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ONE WOMAN- 
WANDERING. 



OR 



EUKOPE ON LIMITED MEANS. 



BY • 

MARION FLOWER HICKS HARMON. 



oinoinnati 

The Editor Publishing Company 

1899 



TWO COPIES HECSIVEO. 

Library cf CCKgp&esi» 

JAM ^9 1900 

Register of Copyrfghtfe 



5419? 



Copyright 
The Editor Publishing Company 



^C\'.*^ SECOND COPY, 



TO THE LONE ONES IN THE LAND, 

ESPECIALLY TO THE 

SOLITARY SISTERS, 

IS THIS 

VOLUME 

CORDIALLY DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. Going Abroad. . .1 

How one lone woman decided to go 
abroad. — Foreign exchange and letters of 
credit.— The steamer moves. 

Chapter II. On the Ocean. . . ]4 

A means of preventing sea-sickness; — 
Suitable outfit for voyage. — Claiming and 
exchange of luggage. 

Chapter III. At Le Havre. . . 28 

First impressions on landing.— Hotel 
Frascati.— ^i«e de Paris. — Place Gambetta. 

Chapter IV. Characteristics op France. 33 

Features of the country. — The Seine. — 
Rouen.— Within the walls of Paris. 

Chapter V. At Paris. ... 41 

The Hotel St. Lazare. — Prices at liotels 
and restaurants. — Desirability of knowledge 
of foreign currencies.— Friendly suggestions 
to the "lone sister". 

Chapter VI. A New Home. . . 50 

Chapel St. Ferdinand. — Features of my 
chamber. 

Chapter VII. Exploring Paris. . . 57 

Strange customs, garbs and persons.— 
Military pomp. — Reflections at St. Cloud, 
St. Germain and Versailles. 



ii CONTENTS. 

Chapter VIII. The Carnival. . . 67 

Festive streets and people. — Comparison 
with New Orleans carnival.— The Parisian 
Sunday. 

Chapter IX. Funerals. . . 73 

Sombre display at the Madeleine. —Jewish 
Cemetery. — Distinguished dead. 

Chapter X. Sights and Scenes. . 86 

Quaint old localities.— The antique Hotel 
de Cluny.— The Savonnerle. 

Chapter XI. Change of Quarters. . 100 

Inner court of ''No. 70."— Paris of to-day, 
and its tumultuous past. 

Chapter XII. Leaving Paris. . . 107 

A French second-class compartment. — 
The Belgian frontier. — Arrival at Cologne. 

Chapter XIII. German Folk. . . 119 

My room in Cologne.— T/ie Domhild. — The 
Ringstrassen. — An evening stroll. 

Chapter XIV. To Duesseldorp. . 134 

Country grows picturesque. — More about 
the trainmen. 

Chapter XV. Hanover. . . . 146 

A language lesson.— Some special Amer- 
ican errors. 

Chapter XVI. About Hanover. . 158 

The Royal Palace. — Royal Theater.— 
Kestner Museum.— Soldiers' Monument. 

Chapter XVII. Hanover Relics. . 158 

Old graveyards. — Goethe's Lotta. — 
Strange police regulatioas. 



CONTENTS. iij 

Chapter XVIII. Hildersham. . . 165 

Its antiquity and importance.— Ctiarm- 
ing old towi). 

Chapter XIX. Wandering On. . 176 

Picturesque little towns. — Region of myth 
and mystery. 

Chapter XX. To the Brocken. . 184 

The witches' altar and the devil's pulpit. — 
Return to Blank enburg. 

Chapter XXI. The Bode. . . 188 

Pastoral landscape. — Modern customs 
and conveniences. 

Chapter XXII. Berlin. . . . 192 

Its situation and importance. — Art col- 
lections. — Intramural transportation. 

Chapter XXIII. To Potsdam. . . 206 

Location and prominence of Potsdam. — 
Famous Tombs. 

Chapter XXIV. Dresden, . . 212 

Pitiable condition of the women. — Points 
of interest. — National music. — Dresden 
China. 

Chapter XXV. Saxon Switzerland. 221 

Crossing the Elbe in a row-boat. — The 
quaint village of Wehlen. 

Chapter XXVI. Leipsic. . . . 229 

Its book trade. — Relics of the battles of 
Leipsic— Monuments. 

Chapter XXVII. To Frankfort. . 237 

Old castles. — Valley of the Fulda. — 
Early origin of Frankfort. — Frankfort's 
fortunes. 



iv CONTENTS. 

Chaptee XXVIII. Heidelbeijg. . 24G 

The castle and its history. — Keidelberg 
University. — The view at mooiirise. 

Chapter XXIX. To Lucerne. . . 2r;l 

A wonderful country. — Queer old paint- 
ings.— The Ijion of Lucerne.— The (Hacier 
Garden. 

Chapter XXX. The Alps. . . 261 

Locale of Wilhelm Tell.— Schiller's me- 
morial. —Wonderful highways. 

Chapter XXXI. The Rigi. , . 200 

Troublesome luggage regulations. — An 
Alpine garden. — '-Through nature to na- 
ture's God." 

Chapter XXXII. Goleau. . . 280 

A tremendous Landslip. — The Lake 
Dwellers.— Hans Waldman's fate. 

Chapter XXXIII. Mainz. . . 2S7 

General features. — Eaths and cures.— Le- 
garding German goods. 

Chapter XXXIV. A Rhine Journey. 298 

Renewed warning to the "lone one''.— 
The most interesting river in the world. 

Chapter XXXV. Holland . . 318 

The dyke-defended land.— Dutch money. 
— A Dutch dog fight. 

Chapter XXXVI Vlissingen. . . 325 

Wandering in earnest.- A trip to Middle- 
bourg.— Forward to England 

Chapter XXXVII. Finis. . . . 8:52 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



CHAPTER I. 

Not because I was especially fitted either by- 
nature , education or habit, to paddle my own 
canoe, not because I had no desire for, or any 
objection to, a compagnon du voyage, did I sud- 
denly determine last year to venture forth alone 
into the rushing tide of foreign travel that has of 
late periods set so strongly toward the Old 
World. But like many another woman I had been 
bereft of all that life and love hold dear, and at a 
mature age was left stranded solitary, with a 
slender though assured provision for that future 
which now stretched blankly before me. What 
could so completely occupy my attention and 
employ my energies as a trip abroad? 

But was this among the possibilities? No 
ties had I to bind me here or elsewhere ; no 
household to maintain in my absence ; no reason 
why the modest sum necessary for my personal 
expenses should not be expended abroad instead 
of in my native land. Would this be sufficient? 
I began to investigate. 

My first step was to write to various Tourist 
Agencies, whose name is legion, requesting such 
information as each could furnish concerning 
routes, rates, outfits, and the like. I may say 
in passing that I ever received most courteous 
attention to my inquiries. I thus accumulated 



2 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

a mass of material much of which was valuable, 
and my vague design began to take form and 
substance before me. My little fund would take 
me across, provide for my return in case of emer- 
gency, and keep me in unpretending comfort 
until I could receive supplies from home. But — 
I must go alone ; I could pay no companion or 
guide. True, there were several excursions ad- 
vertised to which my available cash would ad- 
mit me as a member, but these were of but two 
or three months' duration and seemed to consist 
of one grand scramble from beginning to end, 
in making trains and taking wildly hurried 
glimpses of a few noted scenes and masterpieces. 
So I came to the conclusion that one could see 
and learn most by traveling independently, thus 
being hampered by no contracts or limits as to 
time and place. Could I do this all by myself, 
in a foreign land amid a foreign tongue, I who 
had lived all my life in the seclusion and pro- 
tection of the home-circle? But the dear home- 
circle was forever vanished. Life was ended 
along that line. Wherever I might be I was 
alone and must live inexpensively, I was al- 
ready fairly familiar with my own land. In 
Europe even commonplace environments would 
be new and interesting to me. I would go. 

I did go and for many months wandered alone 
but safely through storied scenes and classic 
shades of varied beauty and interest, returning 
at last with a host of delightful recollections to be- 
guile many an otherwise weary day, and with the 
resolve to promulgate as far as possible among 
the "lone sisters' "in my own country, such prac- 
tical knowledge of ways and means as I ac- 
quired myself in my journeyings, so that any 
one of them, finding through untoward events 
that the "days are dark and dreary," might 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 3 

feel it possible to take ter courage in her hands 
and go and do likewise. And so I begin my 
record. 

In almost any town of a few thousand inhab- 
itants one may purchase a through ticket of the 
principal Steamship Companies, to almost any 
point abroad, I, however, took my ticket from 
one of the Tourist Agencies in order tliat I 
might feel at liberty to call upon the local office 
wherever I might be, for protection or advice, 
have the benefit of its banking facilities, bureaus 
of information and the like. This idea proved 
all right in the main, but at first, as I shall ex- 
plain later, I had reason to believe that all my 
provisions in these respects were as unsubstantial 
as the baseless fabric of a dream. I did not take 
a passport as there are few European countries 
where they are essential, but in the light of my 
later experience, I should take one if going 
again, on account of the convenience as a 
means of identification when such becomes nec- 
essary. The cost, I believe is two dollars. 

The Agency of which I finally bought my 
tickets, as an inducement for me to do so, 
promised to have a man meet me in Chicago to 
give me all necessary aid in transfer, — my start- 
ing point was about seven hours distant, — and 
another man at the New York terminus to take 
charge of myself and luggage, and to see that 
it and I were safely placed on board the steam- 
ship in good order and at no extra charge unless 
in the way of monetary exchange. These prom- 
ises gave me great satisfaction, and it was well 
that they did, for it was all I had ; inasmuch as, 
so far as attendance was concerned, this Agency, 
— I will not, as I might, take so cruel a revenge 
upon it as to publish its name abroad, — almost 
entirely failed to make good its engagements. 



4 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

I descended from the train in Chicago, bag in 
hand, refusing offered attendance as I supposed 
I was provided for; but, trudging along over the 
long platform to the transfer 'buses, no sign of 
a tourist agent did I see. Inquiries right and 
left were of no avail. There was only one hour 
and three quarters between trains, but, though 
my ticket included transfer through Chicago I 
could not go directly on, because my money had 
not yet been converted into foreign funds, and I 
had still much promised instruction to receive. 
After a moment of indecision I took a 'bus to 
the Agency. 

Perhaps my inexperienced countrywoman would 
like to learn that in Chicago all authorized trans- 
ference facilities are in the hands of one organi- 
zation, the Parmelee Line. In purchasing tickets 
that necessitate a change in Chicago, one should 
stipulate for a transfer coupon. Then, on pre- 
senting the same to any of Parmelee's men, who 
are always on hand, one has no ditficulty in find- 
ing one's proper conveyance. On my doing this 
and stating that I wished to interview my tourist 
agent before going to the other station, the at- 
tendant kindly informed me that he would drop 
me at the right place en route. This he did, but 
by stopping I was of course obliged to lose the 
benefit of my coupon, besides having all the 
bother and uncertainty of looking up the 
agent. 

But I found and sternly confronted him with 
my demand for advice and exchange. The of- 
ficial had the grace to seem surprised at my 
appearing there alone, and tried to explain that 
a man had been sent to meet me but "probably 
had got a little behind time." 

Minutes were precious and I wasted none in 
reproaches but proceeded to business. The agent 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 5 

recommended putting the most of my funds in 
circular notes of English money, as available to 
be cashed in any foreign currency on presenting 
a letter of identificition which he also gave me, 
at any place where I should be likely to go. 

Reserving enough of the balance to provide 
for my expenditures to and in New York City, 
he put the remainder into French money as I 
was sailing on a French ship to a French port. 
At this date, an American, or rather, a United 
States' dollar was worth a little more than five 
French francs, four German tnarken, or four 
English shillings. Here let me warn my unso- 
phisticated sister against ever confusing the Eng- 
lish shilling with the value recognized under 
that name in the United States. The United 
States shilling is simply unheard of and un- 
known abroad, (as it ought to be at home for it 
does not exist in our money table ) and where- 
ever the term shilling is used it always, without 
exception, signifies the English shilling of 
twelve pence or twenty-four United States 
cents. I mention this because I saw so many 
cases where unfortunate Americans were hope- 
lessly confused on account of persisting in using 
the term shilling to represent twelve and a half 
cents, to the great mystification of their foreign 
hearers. 

Regarding exchange and letters of credit, any 
banker would do the service quite as well as a 
Tourist Agency, and in many cases it might be 
preferable to have it done at home by one's ac- 
quaintances ;but,going alone as I was, I deemed 
it better, as I mentioned before, to have as much 
claim as possible on the attention of some well- 
known corporation as easily accessible abroad 
as at home. But all this is a matter of expe- 
diency. 



6 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

I made particular inquiries of the agent, as to 
how to escape in New York the difficulties that 
had presented themselves in Chicago, as in New 
York I should be more helpless, never having 
embarked for a foreign tour and not knowing- 
just what to do, nor even whether a woman 
alone would be capable of doing everything. But 
I was assured there was no possibility of my 
missing their man there, that the Company had 
men in uniform with the name of the 
Agency in large letters, to meet all trains, that 
I could not fail to see them, that everybody 
knew the agency-men, and moreover they had 
been advised to look out for me, and so on. So 
I departed comforted, with a man, — in this in- 
stance a nice, friendly lad, — detailed to put me 
on the New York train, see to my sleeper and so 
forth, all of which he did politely and efficient- 
ly, and I was soon rolling away toward New 
York. 

The hours went on ; night came and went and 
the darkness of the second evening closed in 
upon us, for not until eight P. M., were we 
within the confines of "the great city." A bag- 
gage-man appeared — as on all through trains 
nearing a terminus, to whom one may give one's 
checks with perfect safety, receiving a claim- 
ticket in return — and soon my luggage would be 
on its way to the steamer-docks where I would 
find it in the morning. 

At eight forty-five, we stopped in the Grand 
Central Station of New York City. I walked 
out confidently expecting to be accosted at once 
by my promised messenger but, alas, he did not 
materialize. I looked about here and there, back- 
ward and forward, right and left, in fact in every 
direction except heavenward, — which last, in con- 
sideration of the nature of my past experiences, 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 7 

seemed futile to do, — but no one did I see who 
had apparently the least concern as to my wel- 
fare. No uniformed men except the trainmen 
and the red-capped porters, all of whom declared 
total ignorance concerning the agency-men, did 
not even know their uniform ; such also was the 
result of my inquiries in the waiting rooms and 
at the Bureau of Information. The fact was 
that I had simply been allowed to arrive with no 
attention provided whatever. I dwell upon this 
point because the Agency had been so lavish in 
its proffers and promises both verbal and 
written, that I had had no anxiet}'^ whatever on 
leaving home, and had I not been warned by my 
experience in Chicago, should have relied on 
them implicitly. And I feel moved to declare 
that I consider the Agency's course as a culpa- 
ble breach of confidence, from which the conse- 
quences in the case of an unaccustomed traveler, 
a lady, arriving alone at night in this great, 
modern Babel, might have been deplorable in ner- 
vous strain if nothing more. I will say that, some 
months later, I received a most polite letter of 
regret and apology from the Agency, but this, 
though gratifying, hardly served to atone for 
the neglect. Fortunately for me, I was in a 
measure familiar with the place, so I picked up 
my satchel and went across the street to a well- 
known hotel where I obtained a comfortable 
room on the parlor floor at one dollar a day 
without meals. In the restaurant attached, one 
may consider one's purse in ordering from the 
menu. The rates seem high to a resident of a 
town of thirty thousand inhabitants, and if one 
is desirous of keeping expenses down still far- 
ther, one may go out across the street to a most 
attractively bright and clean eating-house, 
where wholesome and appetizing food is served 



8 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

at surprisingly moderate charges. All this for 
the benefit of that "lone sister" whom I have 
in my mind's eye in writing these lines. 

At the hotel I tried to telephone the Tourist 
Agency. "Office closed for the night," was 
the report, so I betook me to my couch thinking 
I should certainly get word in the morning- Of 
course city offices are rarely open before nine, 
A. M,, but as the next was a '-sailing morning" 
the hotel manager thought I would find the 
agency men on hand early. So I tried at seven, 
A. M. "Closed." The steamer was to sail at 
ten and I was I knew not how far away. At 
any rate all the way from Forty-second street 
zigzaggedly across the city to Morton's Pier. 
No use to go personally to the office as it was 
closed. The hotel manager was kind and inter- 
ested and gave me as good advice as he pos- 
sessed, but of course he could not speak with 
authority. Finally, partly because time was 
slipping away and partly because, in classic 
phrase, "my spunk was up," I decided that if 
worst had come to worst, I was equal to the 
emergency of getting off for Europe alone, or 
anywhere else, and that no effete tourist agent 
should, by his indifference or inefficiency, com- 
pel me to lose my passage, nor entail upon me 
unneccessary additional expense. So, as econ- 
omy was the order of the day, I did not even call 
a cab bub boarded a Fourth Avenue car. I knew 
my way pretty well and was burdened only with 
my handbag. 

At Fourteenth Street I took a transfer to the 
pier. When I presented my ticket to the trans- 
fer-man he vociferated violently and offensively, 
as if 1 were offering him a personal insult, "That 
hain't no good ! Yer gotto pay another fare !" I 
was not at all appalled at his demeanor nor did 



ONE WOMAN WONDERING 9 

I "lose my head" or temper, though it certainly 
was not my fault that I had a wrong transfer 
nor had I objected to paying a second fare 
though entitled to transfer. I do not under- 
stand why these street-car employes are so ready 
to deem that a gentlewoman in appearance and 
speech deserves brow beating and crushing when 
she is merely trying to follow the routine of the 
road so far as she comprehends it; but such is 
too frequently the case and I only mention it 
here and my reception of the same, as a possible 
aid to the "solitary sister" when she "will a- wan- 
dering go." I let the fellow expend his rude- 
ness without remonstrance and when he had 
quite ceased speaking I civilly asked him to 
kindly show me which car to take; he had evi- 
dently keyed himself up to receive a torrent of 
expostulation on my part, and when none came 
he seemed dazed for a moment, then acceded to 
my request in a manner comparatively calm, and 
I went on slowly but surely toward Morton Pier. 
I was the sole passenger when the car reached 
the end of the route and here it was my good 
fortune to encounter so kind and gentlemanly a 
young man, albeit in the guise of a conductor, 
that I almost felt like forgiving the before-men- 
tioned surly brute in consideration of his being 
a co-employe of this young man. Of course he 
could not leave his car but he pointed out where 
I must go and told me just what to do and was 
so interesting and painstaking that if we had 
been, as I was la'er, in a foreign land, I should 
have "tipped" him well for his civility; as it 
was, I would not insult his manhood by offering 
to pay him for being polite to a woman. 

It was now nine o'clock. Steamer to sail at 
ten. I rushed across the tracks, before and be- 
hind cars, carts and quadrupeds, ignoring the 



10 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

surprised glances of everybody at seeing a wan- 
dering woman dashing about utterly unattended 
in that busy and hubbubby place. I felt a sort 
of unholy glee in getting on so independently of 
that faithless agency man, who was probably at 
this moment reading his morning paper and 
toasting his toes at ease before his fire, imagin- 
ing that I must await his pleasure. I made my 
way into the great building placarded, Com- 
pagnie General Atlantique, where my smattering 
of French enabled me to read the signs and labels 
about, and I was able with few questions to get 
my luggage, send it aboard by means of three 
men whom I paid twenty-five cents each, (which 
payment I afterward learned was entirely unex- 
pected and unnecessary,) and finally I walked 
up the gang-plank myself and stood apon the 
deck of La Cha^njiagne. 

I have thus detailed these trivial incidents, 
not because of their interest but to give the 
"inexperienced sister" some idea of transporta- 
tion at small expense. I rather enjoyed it on 
the whole, but if the "sister" is timid or ner- 
vous, she would better take a cab for the pier, 
at her hotel door. Rates are high and though 
the hotel manager will procure for one a trusty 
driver, it is quite necessary to have an explicit 
understanding as to terms, before one starts. 

I will not deny that emotions of new and 
varied sorts filled my breast as I looked down 
from the deck upon the swaying crowds, the 
infinite diversity of faces and figures, the cabs 
coming and going, the incessant stream of ladies, 
gentlemen, porters, seamen, children, dogs and 
so forth, passing and repassing up and down the 
plank, and heard the continually repeated 
screeching of whistles and jangling of bells 
mingled with shouts and cries, with the rush 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 11 

and roll of carriage and cart, of barrel and cask, 
the dumping and th'ud of box and bale and 
chest and all the innumerable stock and store of 
a ship's cargo, and reflected that I had suc- 
ceeded in "getting there" all on my own re- 
sponsibility. And I began to felicitate myself 
that I alone had attended to everything and still 
had plenty of time. Then I noticed a party 
coming up with bags and bundles and steamer 
chairs. 

Scissors and teapots ! I had forgotten my 
steamer- chair ! A glance at my watch, — nine 
tw.enty-five, — steamer sails at ten ! Back again 
down the plank — a mad rush for the bureau — a 
wild demand in impossible French for the de- 
sired article. Rent, a United States "dollaire" 
for the round trip, No money but French — oflFer 
a five /rcmc piece supposing it an equivalent — 
rejected as not enough — nothing else but gold — 
frantically hold out a handful, whereupon the 
commissionaire takes pity on me and pushes it 
back, accepting my silver piece and kindly say- 
ing in broken English: "Teez owanlee troah 
sonts, navaire mynde." Whereby I learn that 
the current value of a five franc piece at the 
Bureau Transatlantique, IB ninety-seven cents; 
though if you offer a dollar for something valued 
at five francs, you get no change in return. 

I hurriedly gave the man my name and sped 
back. Again looked at my watch ; nine fifty. 
Plenty of time and everything really ready at 
last. Later on I find myself transformed by the 
label on my chair, into "Madame Heexheimer." 

I may as well say here that this expense of a 
chair was in my case entirely unnecessary. It 
being winter, there was no especial temptation 
to sit on deck, as if one wished to be outside it 
was much pleasanter to move about. Moreover 



12 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

there were plenty of benches on deck if one 
chose to sit. I used my chair but twice, and 
then only because I thought it the regulation 
thing to do. As I had not decided to return by 
this line, I lost the benefit of my round trip pay- 
ment and by engaging a chair I became liable to 
the deck-steward for a fee, whether service were 
rendered or not. 

In summer, when there are many passengers 
and the weather is fine, a chair may be most de- 
sirable, but in this instance I might have made 
a clear savirg of at least two dollars had I been 
familiar with the situation. I may note here 
also that since my outward bound passage, there 
has been a change in the method of renting 
these chairs and one now must pay a dollar a 
voyage instead of for round trip, as before. All 
of which I commend to the consideration of my 
imaginary "lone woman." 

And now it is ten o'clock and the great 
steamer begins to quiver. We all know the 
ccuplet : 

"She moves, she stirs, phe seems to feel 
A thrill of life along her keel !" 

and a dozen other lines as apropos will spring to 
mind. The little tug was noisily doing its duty. 
The pier was a sea of upturned faces and wav- 
ing handkerchiefs. 

"Good-bye!" 

''Adieu!'' 

''LehewohlP' 

"Good luck to you!" 

'■'■Boil voyage f 

"■Glueckliche Reise!'''' 

Some were laughing, some were in tears, all 
were excited, and a responsive throng on deck 
gave back farewell, smile and tear. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 13 

I stood apart. I was alone. The good-byes 
and good wishes were not for me. No one there 
knew of me. It was rather a melancholy 
thought ; and yet there was a bright gleam of 
satisfaction in the reflection that, being there 
thus alone and by my own unaided efforts, I was 
under no sort of an obligation to waft even the 
most formal of farewells to that inert and ever 
elusive tourist agent. 



CHAPTER II. 

At last we were abroad upon the mighty deep. 
Gradually we had made our way out from the 
slips, piers and docks and from the crowds of 
shipping of every description and nationality. 
Out away from the marvelous span of Brooklyn 
Bridge and from the majestic statue towering 
above the busy harbor and forever lifting toward 
high heaven the deathless torch of liberty. Out 
away between shores wharf-lined and covered as 
far as eye could reach with street on street of 
structure, lofty and low, proud and plebeian, 
rich and wretched, and permeated everywhere 
by seemingly the same restless, rushing, hurry- 
ing throng, until by and by the fields and hedge- 
rows began to appear, pervaded even now with 
a faint, subtile shade of green ; soon we passed 
the various isles that dot the harbor, the old 
fort on Staten Island standing out phenomenally 
distinct, and then suddenly the fog closes in and 
shuts out all the world. Reluctantly we aban- 
don our posts of outlook and pass inside to make 
acquaintance with that interior where we shall 
eat, drink and sleep for so many days. 

Surprising indeed is the spectacle we behold. 
All is bewilderment and confusion. Everybody 
seems to be in every other body's way. The 
poor people in the steerage, of whom we get 
occasional glimpses in our present futile at- 
tempts to find out "where we are at," are hud- 
dled together amid their forlorn "bits of things, ' ' 
like a flock of frightened sheep and look sad 
and pitiable. The second-cabiners are as yet un- 

14 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 15 

separated from the first; everyone is more or 
less unsettled, even the old stagers, — or should 
I say "shippers?" — to whom a sea voyage is but 
the veriest episode. Shouts and commands in a 
foreign tongue and the inability of the ship's 
company to understand our American French, 
add to the general distraction. We find later 
that most of the crew speak good English, but 
this fact has not as yet dawned upon our per- 
turbed brains. Bags and bundles of all sorts 
are heaped in apparently inextricable disorder, 
laying traps for unwary feet. Dogs and chil- 
dren are trotting about astray and lifting their 
several voices in howls in various keys and of 
varying intensity. Birds, large and small, are 
shrieking in dismay from divers and sundry 
cages, and amid all is heard the thud, thud of 
the steamer's machinery as it steadily beats out 
the revolutions that, God guiding, shall pause 
not nor delay till we reach the strange shores so 
far distant. 

As a temporary diversion the cabin passengers 
are very soon summoned to an informal luncheon 
while the ship's force indefatigably toils to 
bring order out of chaos. And here may I cau- 
tion my unsophisticated "solitary sister," as a 
possible preventive of sea-sickness, to partake 
sparingly through the first day at least, of the 
abundant and tempting fare provided on the 
great ocean-liners? 

The striking of "deep water" is usually the 
crucial test of one's powers as a "good sailor, " 
and one who escapes this ordeal will probably 
pass along almost unaffected to the other side. 

The work goes untiringly on ; wandering mor- 
tals find their cabins ; weeping women are con- 
soled and irate men pacified; timid passengers 
are encouraged, while stray children and pets 



16 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

reach their proper owners, and at last, by the 
time the electric lights leap forth and we are 
bidden to our evening meal, a semblance at 
least of order and regularity reigns in the bril- 
liant dining-room, or salle-d-manyer, as we are 
taught to consider it. The western continent 
has dropped below the horizon and we begin 
really and truly to be rocked in the cradle of the 
deep. 

The first day out, as customary, we were each 
assigned a seat at table, and given a sail- 
ing list. Here I found I had undergone another 
transformation and was now figuring as *'Mr. 
Hanson." Others, however, had similar surprises 
and it was like solving a puzzle to find out 
which name belonged to whom, and what it 
really should be instead of what it was. Differ- 
ent ships have different methods of arrang- 
ing the sittings at table. On La Champagne, 
a very polite steward called at each stateroom 
door and asked if the occupants thereof had any 
choice as to seats ; if so, they were gratified if 
possible, and to each person was handed a card 
with a number corresponding to that on his 
chair at table. 

At my table are a Ji"Z/e.H.,of New York City, 
whose name is not on the list at all, a Mr. and 
Mrs. M.,of Berkeley, California, and a Senor U., 
of Le Havre. Mile. H. and Mr. M. speak both 
French and English; Mrs. M., only English; 
Senor U., Spanish and French, so when we are 
all there we manage to keep up quite a continu- 
ous conversation, the learned ones interpreting 
for the less so. Scarcely anyone on a French 
steamer appears before c/eyeM»er( pronounced 
"deh-zhoon-eh," with no accent, )a sort of 
heavy luncheon about eleven o'clock. The first 
repast is truly a "break-fast," being but a roll 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 17 

without butter, and a cup of "coffee with milk," 
served usually in one's cabin before one rises. 
There is, I understand, a meal called the ' 'Amer- 
ican breakfast, " provided for such incorrigible 
natives as are unable to fall into foreign ways, 
but this is alien to the general atmosphere; in- 
dividually, I took very kindly to the custom of 
keeping my berth until the first warning bell 
sounded half an hour before dejeumer. 

It so chanced that Senor U. and myself usu- 
ally appeared first at our table and frequently 
finished our meal before any of our table-mates 
came in. As he spoke neither English nor Ger- 
man and I had no Spanish and but a smattering 
of French, and as the politeness of his nation- 
ality, I suppose, would not permit him to sit in 
a lady's presence with no effort to entertain her, 
many desperate attempts were made by us to 
evolve some method of communication ; but it 
all resolved mainly into an assiduous offering of 
each to the other of whatever was within our 
reach, accompanied by a series of "nods and 
becks and wreathed smiles" whenever one 
caught the other's eyes. I shall always remem- 
ber him as a most painfully courteous man, and 
I dare sa}- he will long recollect his arduous en- 
deavors in my behalf. 

The table was excellent, served carefully in 
French table d' hote style, that is, only one thing 
at a time, which I do not like, as I prefer 
my meat with my vegetables. Also I like butter 
on my bread and cream in my tea and coffee, 
which preferences astonish the French caterer. 
If he serves you with butter at all it is unsalted 
and given you upon a plate the size of the ordi- 
nary dinner-plate. If you insist on cream with 
your coffee, he brings you a concoction which 
he calls '■'■cafe-au-laW'' wherein the milk which 



18 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

does duty as cream, is boiled with the coffee, and 
with it he brings a tablespoon; I verily believe 
the French consider it a sort of soup. And as 
to tea, the drinking of it at all seems to be con- 
ceived as springing from a mild aberration of 
the English and the American mind, and one is 
looked upon Math surprise, not to say suspicion, 
if one declines the cognac that is always brought 
oil with it and the tiny cup of "black 2 )ffee" 
served at the close of dinner. Then again, I do 
not like wine of any sort as a beverage, especially 
the thin, sour vin ordinaire that is so universal 
and tastes very like poor vinegar. Nor am I es- 
pecially fond of the cheeses and sauces which 
are served so abundantly, but of course all this 
soon becomes a matter of custom. 

It seemed odd to have knife, fork and plate 
removed with each article of food. 1 will not 
deny having been accustomed to the ordinary 
changes between courses, but the fashion of 
having as many plates, knives and forks as there 
are articles on the bill of fare, was new to me. 
Nor did I ever before see ice-cream made into 
a large roll, like butter, and passed about on a 
platter, each person helping himself and being 
provided with a desert spoon for consuming it. 
I do not remember ever before having seen snails 
on a 7nemi, sol thought I would try some. The 
gaiyjon brought me a plateful apparently aunat- 
urel in their shells and looking "quite too aw- 
fully" snaily. He brought with them an imple- 
ment suggestive of Hamlet's bare bodkin, with 
which oue is supposed to manipulate the shells 
to get at their contents. I made one or two at- 
tempts, then finally begged the waiter to pre- 
pare them for me, which he deftly did, bringing 
them back sans shells and looking exactly like 
a tiny "mess o' greens." I tasted them and 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 19 

found them delicious! in spite of preconceived 
prejudices. 

Our dinners are qu ite long in course and served 
about seven in the evening. Lights are gener- 
ally extinguished in the salon about eleven; in 
our staterooms we have the privilege, not always 
granted on ship-board, of turning the electricity 
off and on to suit our convenience, but a plac- 
ard most politely vs^orded requests us to use our 
illumination as sparingly as possible. 

So hour after hour goes on monotonously 
enough, and day after day finds us, our little com- 
munit}'' of some four or five hundred souls, strug- 
gling onward in this wide waste of waters where 
for days and nights we are encompassed by the 
same unchanging, impenetrable, white mist. The 
great fog horn sounds at intervals of one min- 
ute, night and day. Once forth from out the 
darkness comes a response, but where away in 
that vast, outstretching region of cloud and 
mist there rides another vessel, we have no means 
of knowing. Strong head-winds that yet have 
no perceptible effect on the density of the fog, 
make our progress difficult and slow. 

The huge waves roar ana rave and thunder 
around, below and above us and beat at our 
ship's sides, but she is staunch and they do not 
enter. At last, one night we hear an unusual 
shock, the vessel shakes and shivers, settles 
herself again, then quivers laterally and from 
end to end. I feel sure that we have run down 
something and, lying there in my snug cabin, I 
try to picture the scene without on the dark, 
toss^ing oee iti. But though there is some in- 
crease of hoarse commands and heavy, hurried 
footsteps above, 1 hear no alarm and address 
myself a^ain to sleep. In the morning we learn 
that we have lost a part of our screw and from 



20 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

that time on, we have a sort of compound wiggle 
and jiggle and jerk added to the ordinary roll and 
tumble of a steamer in difficult seas, which is 
rather too much for the equanimity of many of 
our company. Our ship labors bravely on how- 
ever and all is well save the inevitable cases 
of mal-de-mer which one, of course, expects. 
Our salle-d-manger is mostly deserted, by the 
ladies especially, 

Personally I escape all illness, which is a mat- 
ter of surprise and congratulation. Even while 
the steamer rises to meet the oncoming wave, or 
pitches downward into the trough of the bil- 
lows, or rolls from side to side, am I able to 
stand either above on deck or below at the port- 
holtrs which are continually first plunged into 
the depths and then lifted dizzily aloft, and to 
gaze out on the "multitudinous seas" as they 
swell and sweep and wrestle and leap and break 
into feathery spray far heavenward, and to en- 
joy the spectacle and marvel over its beauty. 

At length one evening we note that the 
"dead-lights" are down and at dinner the ta- 
bles are a network of racks and bars to keep the 
dishes in place, which all betokens heavier 
weather. We make inquiries and find we are 
about to enter the "Devil's Hole," which is al- 
ways, as they term it, "a nasty place." All 
this time we have scarcely seen the sun. Ever 
the same white, cottony fog, with the green 
waves breaking through to grin at us. I begin 
to realize what it must have been when the 
"earth was without form and void." We are 
told that the voyage is always tiresome and dif- 
ficult at this time of the year until we get away 
from the"Banks of Newfoundland," — not mean- 
ing the shores of that country but certain areas 
of the ocean, — after which we shall probably 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 21 

have smoother seas and fairer skies: and if we 
can only escape the clutches of His Satanic Ma- 
jesty while invading his "Hole" to night, 
to-morrow we may hope for better things. So 
we go on and on and on. 

Day comes again and we find we have left the 
Devil behind us and by the next day the fog 
lifts and the sun appears. Not long does he 
bless us, however, for it comes on to rain, and 
thus almost continually under cloud and storm 
do we make our passage. We see a steamer on 
a distant track and exchange salutes. We learn 
many days later that shortly after leaving us 
she encountered a waterspout which we barely 
escaped. We have no excitement. We see no 
whales nor icebergs. There is little or nothing 
to distinguish one point of time from another 
except the daily posting of the ship's progress 
in the main companion-way, and the setting for- 
ward of our watches forty minutes each noontide. 

Very strange it seemed day after day to see 
only the same persons, to do only the same 
things and to move about only in the same 
places. La Champagne is a very comfortable, 
somewhat luxurious, but not very modern vessel. 
To my surprise there is neither reading-room 
nor library. I am told there is none on any of 
the French liners though a little cupboard on La 
Chamj)agne, containing perhaps fifty volumes of 
French and English novels which one may pur- 
chase at fifty cents each, is dignified by that 
name. We are, of course, cut off from newspa- 
pers and it reaily becomes a matter of chaticy in 
one possessed of any sort of literature, to circu- 
late it among his or her needy neighbors. 

Judging from my own experience and the dif- 
ficulty I had in obtaining really suitable and 
practical suggestions regarding an outfit that 



22 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

should be sufficient but not superfluous, I fancy 
my imaginary "woman and sister" may desire 
to Icnow something about what is necessary 
for such a journey as mine. Let her bear in 
mind that a ship is tlie merest atom of light and 
warmth upon the awful ocean, and that the 
ocean is always cold. JMoreover, there forever 
do "the winds their revels keep." I found, as 
nearly every inexperienced ocean-traveler does 
find, that I took much more than I needed. 
One's traveling garb should be as heavy as one 
can wear without weariness. One will need in 
winter, leggins and 'overshoes and close, warm 
underclothing. Tights are almost indispensable. 
A hot-water-bag is also very desirable. Along, 
loose outer garment with hood attached and fur- 
lined, is most convenient, as is also a similar 
garment or "domino" of light weight, likewise 
with hood, which one can wear about if one is 
ill, w^ithout troubling with hair-dressing. One 
needs a warm steamer-rug and one or two pri- 
vate cushions are very comfortable. The rug 
may be represented perfectly by a large blanket- 
shawl. Of course if one could count on never 
being ill, many of these provisions would be 
superfluous ; but on this point one can never be 
assured and must prepare accordingly. If one 
is ill, the quickest and usually the only way to 
recover is to be out on deck regardless of 
weather or inclination. Frequently one must 
be carried above by stewards and placed com- 
fortably and safely in a sheltered nook to let the 
cold, pure sea-winds do their reviving work. 

The cabins at best are but stuffy places. 
There are none with but one berth and to one's 
own distresses may be added the moving spec- 
tacle of a room-mate in serious case. So I con- 
sider full equipment for warmth and comfort on 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 23 

deck, to be a necessity, though thus far I have 
not needed it myself. My cabin held two berths, 
but on account of the season of the year, I was 
able to occupy it alone, to my never-ceasing 
thankfulness. I took my steamer-trunk, my 
two grips and my roll of wraps into the cabin 
with me but I should never do so again. If I 
had had a room-mate, I do not know where her 
things could have rested. I find that one gets 
out of one's cabin as soon as possible after ris- 
ing, and elaborate toilets are uncalled for. 

Perhaps it is as well to have a light waist or two 
accessible in case of an evening concert or other 
entertainment, such as are frequently gotten up 
if the voyage is reasonably pleasant. But the 
woman to whom I am specially addressing myself 
is not going abroad to display her wardrobe, or as 
a little friend of mine once remarked, to "cut a 
gash," and I think she will be relieved to take 
as little as possible. I have known ladies going 
abroad for a summer vacation to take only a bi- 
cycle dress and a traveling gown. The woman 
traveling with an escort, or a young girl prop- 
erly chaperoned, might find it no trouble to have 
a little more variety, but it is not necessary and 
some question whether it be good taste. I learned 
the lesson to send in future everything unessen- 
tial, to the hold. 

Baths, of course, may be had on application 
to the steward. While these are not extra in 
themselves, a tip is due to the attendant at the 
end of the voyage. One may patronize the 
steamer hair-dresser or do one's locks one's self; 
but let me warn my sister with a "bang, "that 
no hair-cur iing appliances are allowed in the 
cabins, and when we consider what an unspeak- 
able horror is a fire at sea, I know that none of 
us will question the wisdom of this regulation. 



24 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Besides the bath-room steward and the hair- 
dresser, the other attendants on the usual ocean- 
liner are the stewardess — who will wait upon 
you if you desire but who does not attend to 
your cabin — the bedroom steward, the deck stew- 
ard and the dining-room steward, that is your 
special waiter at meals. A steamship is usually 
divided into sections, each of which has its own 
retinue of servants. Id La Champagne^ a vessel 
of eight thousand tons, there were two sections. 
Of course a passenger is under no obligations as 
to tips to those serving in any section but his 
own. If one requires much service, one is sup- 
posed to tip more liberally than otherwise, but 
what has become an established custom so far 
as I could learn, is to present one's stewardess, 
one's table steward and the deck steward each 
with about two dollars and a half on leaving the 
ship. 

In my case on La Chamiyagne, the stewardess 
had no occasion to perform any service whatso- 
ever for me, but she received my tip on the morn- 
ing of debarkation with all the serenity of long- 
tried and deserving merit. 

And again in regard to one's outfit, let the 
"lone female" also remember that in France 
and other "warm countries," the houses are 
cold and damp though the outer air may be soft 
and mild, so that it becomes more essential than 
with us, to dress warmly within doors, particu- 
larly at night. A warm bedroom-gown and 
slippers are really a necessity the greater part 
of the year. 

Of course I do not learn all these items at 
once, but as I go along; if they lighten up the 
matter for any who may come after me, I shall 
be well pleased. 

But we were getting on, and lo ! one evening. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 25 

away off over the heavy expanse of waters could 
be seen a tiny gleam of light that alternately 
shone and disappeared. Yes, there was the 
long looked-f or beacon, there were the Scilly Isles, 
there was solid land after these many days. 

That last evening, according to a time-hon- 
ored custom, was served what is called "the 
Captain's dinner," though in reality given by 
the transportation company, at which unusual 
delicacies are spread, with unlimited champagne. 
Mirth and good-fellowship abound, and with the 
dessert on the present occasion was served an 
assortment of fancy "pop-crackers" which, on 
being pulled out, developed into a collection of 
fantastic head-riggings, high and low caps of 
all varieties, sombreros, capotes, helmets, and 
the heads of all sorts of animals. Each person 
donned his own, and we all marched about the 
salon in majestic style at the close of the feast. 

The next morning the shores of France, snow- 
covered and looking in the distance much like 
the southern shores of Lake Superior, were dis- 
tinctly visible on the right, and a few hours 
later, on the left, also. The bold outlines of ie 
Havre soon rose to view and we entered the 
wide harbor with its great solid piers and mas- 
sive masonry. 

To our intense disappointment the tide was 
out and it became necessary to land us in a ten- 
der. We watched it putting out from the pier, 
dancing up and down through the waves and 
seeming indeed like the veriest toy in comparison 
with the huge steamer on which we stood. 

The transference was a long and most tedious 
process. First came the steerage passengers 
from beiow. Such a "motley crew," with bun- 
dles of clothes nnd bedding and household effects. 
Poor things, they looked pale and ill; no doubt 



26 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

our rough voyage which had so tried even us who 
were more comfortably lodged and fed, had 
caused them to suifer severely. Then the occu- 
pants of the second cabin, who were most respec- 
table in appearance. Last, the "first classers" 
were called upon to "walk the plank." 

It was not the pleasantest thing imaginable, 
either, to step out upon the swaying, bobbing 
concern that hung from our deck down to that 
of the little steamer below us, rising and falling 
with her as she courtesied to the motion of the 
waves which rolled all too apparently beneath, 
while a bitter w4nd tugged wildly at us as if to 
tear us from our slender support. But we all did 
it somehow, and were stowed away more or less 
comfortably on camp-chairs or benches or rolls 
of luggage, as the case might be. 

Now, we supposed, we should soon be on 
shore, but to our inexpressible disgust, we were 
taken around to the other side of our ship, and 
there we had to wait, shivering and sneezing, un- 
til the whole amount of luggage from hold and 
cabins was transferred to the tender. Why this 
could not have been done iirst and the passen- 
gers taken on afterward, no one deigned to ex- 
plain. 

But now at last we are really in motion once 
more, and dance along over the choppy waves 
toward the wharves of Le Havre. 

High and picturesque the city lies back from the 
sea, with long lines of streets handsomely built 
after an old-world fashion, stretching away over 
the heights. Upon these heights, we are told, 
are the residences of the aristocracy, and the 
home of the president of the republic is pointed 
out to us. One of my co-voyagers, a young lady, 
exclaims : "Oh, do see the cute little French sol- 
diers." 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 27 

Surely enough, there they go marching down 
past the pier in their gay red and blue uniforms. 
Like boys they look, and boys, I presume, most 
of them are. 

Our steamer is behind time and there is not 
much bustle over our arrival. We reach the 
pier, we mount the landing, and at last, after 
nine long days, once more we 

"take our stand 



On land, on solid land," 

albeit it is here covered with a moist unpleasant 
slush. 

The claiming of luggage now takes place, a 
proceeding tiresome and, to the United States 
mind accustomed to checks, entirely unnecessary. 
They who, like myself, have through tickets to 
Paris, are saved this trouble as our packages 
went on in the special train which met us here. 
It was now about four o'clock and we could not 
reach Paris before midnight, so Mr. and Mrs. M. 
and myself decided to stay in Le Havre. Ac- 
cordingly we filed through one door into a wait- 
ing room which is indeed fitly named, as here we 
were obliged to wait a long time for our turn to 
have our hand-bags examined and to declare 
that we had no tobacco or silver; whereupon an 
attendant, in my case a fat, old woman, marked 
each piece with a chalk design, and we filed out 
again at an opposite door and into the street, 
where we stood for a few moments taking in our 
first impressions of an alien climate and a for- 
eign shore. 



CHAPTER III. 

It was, on the whole, difficult to realize that 
we were really in France. In the first place, 
everything was heavily covered with snow, and 
this, I think, does not accord with one's mental 
pictures of France, la belle, the land of vintage 
and perfume. To be sure, we were in the far 
north ; to the south might smile verdant slopes 
and sunny skies. Then again, the throng of 
"raggedy men" and boys about the landing 
seemed much the same as at home; although 
they spoke excitedly in a foreign tongue and 
gesticulated in a foreign manner, the general 
effect was very similar. Our boat having been 
late, there were no vehicles awaiting us, and for 
the novelty of it we decided to walk on to seek 
a hotel, a small boy offering to carry our bags, 
pressing into service another little lad who 
"wanted to go along because he was his brother." 

Off we went through the slush, the narrow 
streets reminding one of Old Boston; but the 
stalls of flowers here and there amid the snow, 
and the b.-ireheade J women running about every- 
where with, at most, but a muslin cap upon the 
head, did not seem at all familiar. Girls, men 
and boj'^s were laughingly pelting each other 
with snow-balls in nw t-agerness and enjoyment 
that betokened an infrequent pastime. 

Far to the 1-ft, overlooking the harbor and 
the open sea, is thn great Hotel Frascati.fam ais 
for its baths and general fe.-tivities, and a fav- 
orite resort for both French and foreign in the 
season. We crossed a great stone bridge, skirted 

28 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 29 

around queer and angling corners, and soon 
came to a fine street with buildings of quaint 
but good architecture. We learn afterward 
that it is the Rite de Paris and that it stretches 
straight on, a beautiful avenue, to that city. 

Following it we came to a little park; trees, 
statues, fountain and flower-stalls all looking 
out from the snow. This is the Place Gambetta 
fronting which stands our hotel. 

It was dark when we reached it. Bare and 
chill enough seemed the tile-paved little rotunda 
in which was the bureau, ov office, poorly lighted 
and with no perceptible heat. We were shown 
directly to our rooms, being preceded up the 
long, twisty, cold staircase, by a maid bearing, 
to my amazement, a solitary candle. 

Mr. M., who had been abroad before and was 
familiar with foreign "tricks and manners," 
was much amused at the horrified expression of 
his wife and myself. There was no elevator, 
they being only in the new and modernized 
places that are largely patronized by Ameri- 
cans. The house itself was stately and impos- 
ing, but sadly deficient, to the modern idea, in 
convenience and comfort. The hostess — it is 
always a hostess in the true foreign hostelry, — 
told us the building was an old mansion of a no- 
ble family and built in the early part of the cen- 
tury, but had been used as a public house for 
about forty years. While the ceilings were ex- 
ceedingly high and the walls adorned with 
frieze and arabesque in classic style, yet the pas- 
sages — they could not be called halls, — were nar- 
row and crooked and floor-clothed with some- 
thing that looked like heavy, brown wrapping- 
paper. We noted a curious arrangement of 
folding panels in several of the rooms and were 
told that many of them were originally one, and 



30 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

had been, in the course of events, made so that 
they might be shut off or thrown again into one, 
at will. For a generation perhaps, liowever, 
they had not been disturbed. 

There was no light above the ground-floor, — 
which, by the way, is never the "first floor," as 
with us, — except by candles, (and these an "ex- 
tra") and no heat unless specially ordered. 

There happening to be but two chambers va- 
cant on what we would call the second floor, the 
larger was givea to my companions, and truly, 
it was a spacious apartment, I should think 
about twenty by thirty feet. The glittering 
white w^alls were chastely and beautifully orna- 
mented in high relief ; two great windows over- 
looking the park in front were composed of tiny 
panes and opened outward down the middle, as 
most foreign windows do. The wide mantle 
was of the whitest of marble tastefully sculp- 
tured, and all this space and grandeur was illu- 
minated( !) by one little candle. 

Mr. M. quickly perpetrated the great extrava- 
gance of ordering in two more, and a fire to be 
lighted in the tiny fireplace beneath the grand 
mantel, and we really felt quite festive. We 
were pleased to learn that these candles were 
the "very latest improved" and considered most 
superior in that they had each three holes down 
the center, "which obviated the dripping of the 
wax and secured a perfect draught." The idea 
of improving candles in this day and generation, 
tickled alike the fancies of Wisconsinite and 
Calif<.riiians. 

I now retired to my chamber across the pas- 
sage. I had not so much magnificence as my 
neighbors and I had but one cmdle. I did not 
believe that any number of "improved" candles 
could give as much light as one good lamp, so 1 
inquired if I might have one. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



31 



"Ah! no. Madame, the hostesp, was deso- 
lated, but there were none in the house; they 
were so very dangerous!" Then I resolved, as an 
experiment, to find out how much one really could 
see with one candle as our forefathers and moth- 
ers must often have done in the ''good old 
days," So by its flickering flame I essayed to 
take a survey of my apartment. 

The floor was dark, bare with the exception of 
a heavy, soft rug before the bed, and polished 
to a perilous degree. My feeble lurriinary did 
not penetrate to the ceiling above. I groped my 
way to a kind of oblong structure with a marble 
slab on top, which stood at one side. Its use I 
could not conjecture but it suggested nothing so 
much as one of the old tombs around Trinity 
Church in New York City. Next came a quaint, 
narrow little table with spindly legs and a 
drawer. In this drawer were writing materials 
and a printed form in which "Ji". Jf., les voya- 
geurs'''' were prayed "to have the goodness to be 
willing to fill up the blanks with names, sur- 
names, ages, professions, birthplaces, habitual 
residences," and so forth and so forth. It was 
farther explained that this was "for the bene- 
fit of the police." 

This made me feel "sort o' creepy," and as if 
some "Old Sleuth" might be upon my guilty 
track. Conquering my quakings, however, I 
proceeded. Next was an odd sort of toilette- 
table, marble-topped and with a folding lid, 
mirror-lined, which might be shut down over 
the top of the concern. In the morning I discov- 
ered another mirror on the uall but this was now 
lost in the gloom. There was the tiniest ewer 
and basin imaginable for their purpose, towels 
the same, soap-dish but no soap, (there never is 
any) and a bottle of drinking water; no ice to 
be seen and none to be had on demand. 



32 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Close to the bed was a queer little piece of 
furniture, solid, square and also marble-topped, 
which I afterward learned was styled a table de 
niiif, though it looked nothing like a table; this, 
of course, was for one's candle. 

And then came the bed itself. It was a pecu- 
liar looking affair. High above it, showing 
faintly out from the obscurity, was a round can- 
opy from which depended long, full curtains of 
a dusky red looped away in front. The bed- 
stead was heavy and solid, and resembled a huge 
box on casters, though not wide enough for two 
occupants. It was built up with a sort of up- 
holstered mattress and bolster, to a height 
nearly equal to my own. These w^ere covered 
in a kind of gray damask linen and over this 
were linen sheets resembling homespun. Then 
blankets and spread as customary but over all 
this an immense cushion, in fact what the small 
boy might term "a young bed," of feathers or 
down, covered in red. As there was no way of 
heating my chamber, this cushion looked very 
comfortable to me, though extremely odd. A 
chair or two completed the furnishings so far as 
I was able to discern, and everything was most 
daintily fresh and clean, I then tried first to 
read, next to write by the candle but failed 
utterly. I will add here from after experience, 
that before my return a year later, I acquired 
the power to do both with perfect ease, and fre- 
quently used a candle in preference to gas. So 
much for one's environment. But now, as I 
had been kindly invited by my neighbors to sit 
at their fire, I took my candle and bore it in to 
swell their state, and in the light of the four, 
and the glow of the coals we sat in a semi-circle 
about the hearth stone and talked of our native 
land. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Next morning about eleven, we met at de- 
jeuner which, as I noted before, is the first reg- 
ular meal a Frenchman takes, having his cafe- 
au lait and petit pain, or roll, in his chamber at 
whatever hour he desires. At meals he drinks 
nothing but wine. But Mrs. M. and I could not 
accustom ourselves to the wine, so she ordered 
tea and I coffee. In paying our bill, we were 
surprised to find these charged as "extras." 
As the price of the wine was reckoned in with 
that of the meal, we had the privilege of paying 
for all these beverages. The charges at the ho- 
tel seemed light, but when in addition to the 
cost of my room, (eighty cents,) I had paid for 
service, twenty cents ; candle, twenty cents ; 
given a tip to maid and man, and still had had 
no fire nor serviceable light, I concluded I would 
rather pay United States prices and enjoy 
United States comforts. I was reminded of 
James de Mille's laughable exposition in his The 
Dodge Club, of the foreign system of charges 
and the schemes by which his characters pro- 
tected their purses ; one of which consisted in 
carrying off on their departure all the candle- 
ends in their rooms. I had not come to this as 
yet, however, so I left my pieces of improved 
illuminator to be charged up again to the next 
traveler. 

Going out into the pleasant street, we were 
soon taking a drive in a comfortable carriage in 
which three, its full capacity, were allowed to 
ride as cheaply as one. Our coachman proved 

33 



34 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

sociable and we picked up some bits of informa- 
tion, not all new, bat yet interesting. 

Havre, or Le Havre, as the French call it, is a 
large and flourishing city of about one hundred 
and seventeen thousand inhabitants and, next 
to Marseilles, the most important town in France. 
It has extensive ship-building yards and sugar- 
refineries. It was formerly called Havre de 
Grace, from a chapel of Notre Dame de Grace 
founded by Francis I,, in 1516, which is still to 
be seen in the Hue de Paris. The city has be- 
come much modernized of late, and has many 
fine edifices and wide, beautiful boulevards. 

Bernardin St. Pierre, the author of Paul and 
Virginia, was a native of Havre and an artistic 
monument to his memory stands in the Rue de 
Paris. 

Some very handsome official buildings stand 
upon the Rue de Strasbourg, which stretches 
from the railway station on the east to the sea 
on the west. 

The harbors and docks of this port are espec- 
ially fine. At the principal dock, the Bassin de 
V Eur e, the huge transatlantic steamers lie at ease 
within its fifty acres area. This was ten years 
in construction and finished in 1856. The Bas- 
sin du Roi was excavated in 1669. The Canal 
de Tancarville was opened in 1887 and connects 
the Seine directly wnth this harbor and enables 
ships to escape the tidal wave in the estuary. 

There are two cable railways and three elec- 
tric tramways running out to points of interest, 
and little steamers ply three or four times daily 
to watering-places near by ; all seem to be well 
patronized. 

On reaching the station we were permitted, 
on account of holding through tickets, to pass 
through and to enter our train without delay. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 35 

Funny little coaches we saw, of first, second and 
third class. In France, we learn, no one rides 
third class who can in any way acquire the price 
of the higher grade. 

We were about to take an ordinary first-class 
carriage when we were told that by paying one 
franc extra, (everywhere an extra!) we might 
occupy a coach with a toilette room. So to 
avail ourselves of this great privilege, — free 
to the poorest who rides in the United States, — 
we each disbursed our franc and stepped into 
the carriage designated, which stood at p level 
with the platform ; and conveyances of this sort 
are fitly named '"carriages." 

It may chance that the "sister" for whom 
these lines are written has no clearer idea than 
I had myself, of the continental car, so I will 
describe this one which seemed to be regarded as 
the acme of convenience. 

We first note how small all the carriages are. 
Those with toilette-room are a trifle larger. A 
door on each side with window in upper half 
gives entrance and we find at the rear end two 
double ^ eats like the usual horse-carriage seat, 
nicely upholstered in smooth, gray cloth, as are 
the walls of the vehicle itself. 

Opposite the further seat and separated from 
it by the width of the door, is another double 
seat, and by the side of this a single one resem- 
bling a comfortable easy-chair. The occupants 
of these three places must ride backward. On 
each side of the door-windows is another of like 
size and all are lifted or lowered as the ordinary 
carriage-window may be, that is, by straps, and 
there are also straps as in carriages, by which 
to hold on. Curtains of soft blue ch^th are 
looped back from the windows. In the center 
of the carriage-roof is a small, red lamp of about 



36 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

two-candle power, which is all the light to be 
had in the darkest night. Around this another 
blue curtain is arranged to be drawn in case the 
traveler finds this illumination too brilliant for 
his comfort! Heat to a moderate degree, is sup- 
plied from below through a perforated strip of 
metal on which we rest our feet. 

The compartment contained but seven places. 
Immediately at the left of the entrance on the 
right was a narrow lane leading forward, pas- 
sing the wonderful toilette room, which, by 
the way, was of the most primitive kind, though 
containing a gO(>d but small mirror, — and along 
bj a sort of inner compartment shut off by itself, 
which I presume corresponds to the "stateroom" 
in our sleepers at home. I caught a glimpse of 
the four occupants, all it would accommodate, as 
I glanced down the lane, and they did look fun- 
ny enough shut up there in a box within a box. 
But I dare say they were quite content, inas- 
much as they were thus divided from the "vul- 
gar herd" as represented by four ladies and 
three gentlemen in the rear section. 

Smoking, it seems, is allowed in any of these 
carriages except a few reserved for ladies alone. 
Indeed I do not know but that it would be al- 
lowed there should any of the "lone females" 
desire the solace of the weed, but I presume in 
fact, that excluding men virtually excludes 
smokers. By the way, I have heard that there 
is a mild prejudice prevailing against these car- 
nages, ladies seeming to feel that there is a 
suspicion of "old-maidism" attached to the oc- 
cupants thereof, and often declining to enter the 
same for fear of falling under the ban. All these 
different styles of compartment are to be found 
usually in one train, so, reversing the old adage, 
"you takes your choice and you pays your 
money." 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 37 

But now we are off and we speed away with 
a gentle motion, very comfortable. We see no 
conductor nor news-boy and are absolutely un- 
disturbed. All the excitement we have is 
occasioned by a violent altercation that takes 
place between three of our fellow-passengers. 
One, a stout, ruddy gentleman whom we En- 
glish-Americans would unhesitatingly dub a 
German, but who was a citizen of the United 
States and deemed himself an "American" to the 
core, had been a passenger with us on our voy- 
age. He also had stopped at the same hotel and 
was proceeding to Paris, The two others were 
a French lady and gentleman, probably resi- 
dents in the vicinity. The stout man in convers- 
ing with Mr. M., dwelt forcibly and at length 
on the superiority of everything American, and 
evidently his remarks were understood and re- 
sented by the French couple, for suddenly, 
without warning and with the greatest vehe- 
mence, they burst into the conversation, but in 
French, and presumably threw do *vn the gaunt- 
let of all France before the champion of Amer- 
ica. 

He apparently with alacrity picked up the 
same, and then they had it back and forth, "hot 
and heavy," shouting, gesticulating, hurling at 
one another scathing glances of ineffable defi- 
ance and disdain, and seemingly on the point of 
coming to blows then and there. We watched 
them amazed, while Mrs. M. and I consulted as 
to the expedience of trying to interfere, when 
quite as suddenly their fury moderated, their 
voices modulated, and soon they were smiling 
blandly upon one another, exchanging gracious 
bows and probably also the most elaborate of 
compliments. 

We are fairly under way and have gotten out 



38 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

of the suburbs. How strange it seems, looking 
out at our first stop, to see the historic and 
poetic name of Harfleur above the station door! 
But its glories are departed and little is left of 
interest except a iine Gothic church attributed 
to Henry V., of England. Thirty-one miles 
from Havre we come to Yvetot, recalling that 
"King of Yvetot little known to fame," who 
"slept exceeding well without glory." 

We find less snow as we ride eastward, the 
country appearing much like the less mountain- 
ous portions of our eastern states. It looks 
somber and sere, but as we go farther inland the 
landscape brightens and the trees lose their shiv- 
ery air. Picturesque homesteads with farm- 
buildings clustered closely about, mostly of 
neat, red brick nicely painted and picked out in 
contrasting colors, are seen on every hand, and 
occasionally an ancient, stone windmill comes 
into view, of the type familiar in their geogra- 
phies to school-children, and totally unlike the 
modern water-pumping variety. These mills 
are round at base and conical in shape and have 
four great wings extending in as many di- 
rections. A Frenchman who has recently en- 
tered, — foi our warlike couple has departed, 
— tells us that the mills are relics of the old- 
time, Holland occupation of this region, and are 
used even yet to grind grain. 

The country looks more and more prosperous 
and picture-like as we go on. Trim hedges and 
tidy fields, everything cared for in the highest 
degree; no waste nor debris anywhere, all things 
betokening the small and carefvil land-holder. 

Soon a hateful tunnel shuts off the scene, but 
as we emerge and near Rouen, the valley of the 
Seine with the great river winding along 
through the midst of it, lies about us in unspeak- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 39 

able loveliness. We seem to be in a sort of 
gigantic basin, the rim of which is the low, cir- 
cling hills not thickly covered with trees. 

How silvery and serene the river looks as we 
gaze out and see it stretched away for miles in 
the distance. How gently it flows between its 
fertile shores and the quaint hamlets clustered 
here and there in cozy nooks along its banks. 

Now rise into view the spires and domes of a 
great city. We come nearer and nearer. 'Tis 
Rouen, with its wealth of medieval architecture 
and its grand, Gothic cathedral, some parts of 
which date back to 1207. There is a singular 
incongruity, unsymmetrical in plan yet beauti- 
ful as a whole, about the various portions of this 
famous edifice. One lofty and graceful pinnacle, 
we are amused to learn, is called the Tower of 
Butter, from having been erected with the money 
paid for indulgences to eat butter in Lent. 

This is the old town that bade defiance to 
Henry V., of England, and Henry IV., of France, 
"centuries ago." All this is too much for Mr. 
and Mrs. M. to resist; they are fascinated and 
leave the train to go on later. I, however, pre- 
fer to journey to Paris by daylight, so I do not 
stop. 

At first I do not seem to have gained much 
for we almost immediately plunge into a series 
of tunnels; but on reaching daylight once more, 
we have yet another surprisingly beautiful view 
of Rouen and the shining river. Then we cross 
and re-cross the Seine and rush again through 
tunnel after tunnel to my great chagrin, for I do 
not like to lose a bit of the charming landscape. 

But we come out again and once more skirt 
the Seine. Yonder on the hills rising from the 
river may be seen the old church of Bon Se- 
cours. All along here are interesting remind!- 



40 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ers of the ancient, close intermingling of the 
French and the English. Only ten miles away, 
at Les Andelys, are the ruins of Castle Gaillard, 
erected by Richard Lion-Heart. It afterward 
became a state-prison and in 1314 Margaret of 
Burgundy, wife of Louis X., was murdered 
there. It was destroyed in 1663 by Henri IV. 

At Vernon is a conspicuous tower built by 
Henry I. of England. We pass through Mantes 
where, by falling otf his horse, William the 
Conqueror received the injuries from which he 
died at Rouen in 1087. 

We continue to skirt the river with ever 
changing, ever delightful views. We come to 
Poissy, the birthplace of Louis IX., "St. Louis," 
whose memory is held so sacred in parts of our 
own country to-day. At Poissy was held the 
great conference in 1561, between the Roman 
Catholics and the Protestants, from which was 
hoped so much but realized so little. 

Still we cross and re-cross the river, for the last 
time however at Asinieres, one of the environs of 
Paris and a favorite resort for boating, and the 
like, in the season. Next comes Clichy, another 
suburb though containing more than thirty-one 
thousand inhabitants. Now we pass through 
the fortifications, for Paris is a walled city; then 
through the last tunnel, under the Place de V 
Europe^ and enter the station St. Lazare. 

Here stepping from the train we give up our 
tickets ac the gate, foreign fashion, and at last, 
after twelve days' pilgrimage, do I reach the end 
of my long journey and find myself in Peerless 
Paris. 



CHAPTER V. 



And now what shall I say of Paris? Paris, so 
storied and sung from time immemorial. So 
exalted and so abased, so joyous and so dis- 
tressed, so brilliantly prosperous and so crush- 
ingly ruined, by turns, throughout its whole 
marvelous existence since first the Roman con- 
querors set foot within its borders. 

Not for me has been left the part to recount 
its mutations, nor to depict its glories and dis- 
asters, either past or present. 

Travelers of to-day, even as did the adventur- 
ous wanderer of the dim past, seek Paris as the 
needle seeks the pole, while readers of to-day 
have spread before them an embarrassment of 
literary riches from which to select at will. 
Enough be it for me to relate how it befell one 
wandering woman within the confines of this 
wondrous city. 

My first glimpse of Paris was from the third 
floor of the great caravansary that almost sur- 
rounds the Gare St. Lazare. One leaves the 
train, goes through a gateway, and instead of 
passing into the open street, comes directly into 
this mammoth edifice. 

It was nearly dark when I arrived and by the 
time I had taken some refreshment and been as- 
signed a room, the day was done. I could not; 
as yet realize that I was in Paris any more than 
in any other large city. The huge hotel with 
its spacious salons, electric service, lifts and 
English-speaking servants, seemed familiar 
enough. True, neither the queer, high, French 



42 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

bed with its close curtains, its bolster and great 
feather cushion, nor the candles on the mantel 
(to supplement the electricity !) are, so far as 
my observation goes, to be seen in the United 
States. Neither are we obliged there to pass an 
examination in our personal history, on regis- 
tering ; nor are we, after paying for service and 
attendance specially itemized in our bills, ex- 
pected to present the servants continually with 
small coin, u.nless indeed we choose to ape for- 
eign customs; but otherwise the "altogether," 
as Trilby might say, diilered little from like 
hotels at home. 

On reaching my chamber I hastened to part the 
window-curtains and gaze down upon the great 
thoroughfare below. The impression of vast 
space was astonishing. The wide area beneath 
stretched out and away, leading off in all direc- 
tions into broad, bright avenues through all of 
which multitudes of persons riding, driving, 
wheeling, walking, were passing to and fro with 
celerity and ease, yet with no crowding nor 
jostling. It was raining gently and the army 
of umbrellas moving swiftly along in the bril-- 
liantly illuminated expanse, viewed from above 
at that height, produced a peculiar effect, as of 
a remarkably lively company of ebony-hued 
mushrooms out for a promenade. The intense 
radiance of innumerable lights reflected back 
from the smooth, wet, glistening pavement, and 
the buoyant mien of the quickly shifting throngs 
in no wise depressed by the falling drops, gave 
an air of animation and festivity to the spec- 
tacle that was striking. 

The current of my cogitations had been con- 
tinually interrupted by an annoying "click- 
click," and I now turned to investigate the 
cause. Following the sound, I discovered an. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



43 



upright object perhaps fifteen inches high upon 
the mantel. It possessed, a glass face and two 
short metal bars that jumped forward about an 
inch at every click, seemingly causing the same. 
I tried to open the face and arrest the motion, 
but in vain. Then it occurred to me that I 
might tilt the concern up sidewise and thus by 
throwing its machinery out of balance, perhaps 
stop the clicking. 

It was very heavy but after many struggles I 
succeeded in moving it a couple of inches when, 
to my dismay, I found it to be attached in some 
way to small, colored worsted ropes that disap- 
peared mysteriously into the wall behind. I be- 
gan to think that it must be some sort of a 
secret registering-machine "for the benefit of 
the. police," and almost expected that my 
unwarranted interference with the affair, would 
bring down vengeance in some unforseen man- 
ner upon my unprotected head. 

But nothing worse ensued than the continued 
persistence of the maddening ^'click-click," 
which all night long resounded in my ears and 
did most effectually "murder sleep." The next 
morning, being still alive and uninjured, I has- 
tened to the hotel-offlce to ascertain the nature 
of this "infernal machine." I was relieved to 
learn that it was "only an electric clock," and 
would be stopped if I desired ; so after that I 
slept in peace. 

The modest tourist with limited means will 
not stay very long in quarters so public and 
expensive as the great hotels ; though I will say 
that, all things considered, the prices range 
from a surprisingly low figure. For instance, 
one may get a room in most of them for four 
francs a day, or a little less than eighty cents, 
but one must pay from one to two and one half 



44 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

francs a day for light. In the present case, I 
paid five francs for my chamber which though 
small was very comfortable, even luxurious. It 
is not necessary to take any meals in the house, 
but the ordinary charges at the table (V hute for 
the first meal or "little breakfast," — to translate 
literally, — consisting of colfee or tea with bread 
and butter, is from twenty to fifty cents ; de- 
jeuner, about ninety-seven cents, and dinner, 
from one dollar and a quarter to a dollar and 
sixty cents. Of course by ordering extras, one 
may swell the amount unlimitedly. 

AH these hotels also have restaurants attached 
where one may be served very well indeed, by 
the card, and where one's meal may be more 
specially adapted to one's purse; but the pru- 
dent traveler will seek out some less pretentious 
place to regale the inner individual and it is 
surprising how satisfactorily one may be served 
for a small sum even in the great city of Paris. 

The most continuous drainage upon one s 
purse in these large hotels, and the most annoy- 
ing because of one's inability to average it in 
any way, is the great number of servitors who 
are to be tipped every day for incidental ser- 
vices, which indeed are divided up amongst as 
many attendants as possible, so that each may 
have a claim for '■'■jiour boire,'''' as they term 
it. Thit. practice James de Mille has also amus- 
ingly set forth by describing the train of ser- 
vants which followed him from his carriage into 
the hotel, one bearing a tooth-brush, another 
his cane, still another an umbrella and so on 
with each separate article of his outfit, every one^ 
of the force expecting a sp* cial tip. 

Besides the charge each day from one to two 
and a half francs, (about twenty to fifty cents,) 
for attendance, one must tip the "chamber- 



ONE WOMAN WONDERING 45 

maid," (who is a man,) the porter, the servant 
who opens the door for one, gives one any infor- 
mation or any sort of service, such as calling a 
cab, fetching a newspaper and so forth, so that 
one's /'rancs and centimes melt away unceasingly 
without any very perceptible return for one's 
outlay. This complication is avoided in a de- 
gree at the smaller places where the servants 
are less numerous and where the size of the tip 
expected is much less. 

The Bestaurants Duval, which are found scat- 
tered about in all parts of Paris, are particularly 
desirable for wandering women, though also 
patronized by men ; the places are neat, attrac- 
tive, comparatively inexpensive and thoroughly 
respectable. 

The waiters here are women in a decorous 
uniform of black gowns, white caps and aprons. 
A peculiarity of these places is that every 
identical item has a separate charge, but so com- 
paratively trifling that the sum is not exorbi- 
tant. For example : napkin, table-cloth, each 
one cent; half bottle of aerated water or wine, 
three to ten cents; bread, two cents; soup, five 
cents, and the like. 

Butter is always expensive. Tea costs more 
than cafe-au-lait, but the latter is only served 
in the morning. If one takes cream or milk in 
one's tea or "black coffee," that is "extra." 
One's attendant here will be satisfied with a tip 
of three cents, though of course more is gra- 
ciously accepted. 

For a person meaning to remain some little 
time in one place, and this is really the cheap- 
est way to establish one's self as reductions are 
given for prolonged residence, the best plan is 
to seek some recommended boarding-house or 
"pension"' as we soon learn to call it. A good 



46 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

way to get on thp track of such, if one has no 
personal acquaintances, is to ask advice of yome 
Tourist Office, and here is where one benefit of 
having bought tickets of such an organization, be- 
comes apparent. By the terms of one's contract 
one is entitled to attention and advice and feels 
that one has some sort of backing, which lifts a 
part of one's burden of responsibility from one's 
own shoulders. 

Before I get too far away from the huge ho- 
tels, I will say that although almost all places 
of lodgment in Europe are conducted on what 
isverj'^ properly known as the "European Plan," 
yet I did find houses in Germany and Switzer- 
land where a higher charge was made for lodg- 
ing if no meals whatever were taken at the place 
of sleeping, but as a rule there is no objection 
to renting beds without board. 

Here, perhaps, is a good point to answer the 
question so often asked by persons contemplating 
foreign travel, namely: "Is it of any advantage 
to have the superficial knowledge of foreign 
languages that one acquires from books and in 
a class under a Professor, without opportunity 
of hearing it in general conversation?" 

1 think it is ; to be sure one will not be able to 
understand the foreigners at first, no matter 
how glibly one may read or pronounce the 
alien tongue. But it will take less time to ed- 
ucate one's ear to the spoken language and in 
the meantime one is able to read signs, placards, 
circulars and newspapers, from which one may 
glean very many desirable hints and much infor- 
mation on almost any department of ever3^day 
life; often, on account of such proficiency, being 
able to dispense with guides, thus lessening 
one's expense. The guide books gotten out by 
many Tourist Firms are cheap and reliable; but 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



47 



for an utter stranger, particularly my "lone 
sister," I think one more voluminous and giving 
special hints as to prices and routine of tiavel, 
also addresses of inexpensive, respectable stop- 
ping-places, is by far more serviceable though 
considerable more costly. 

But there is one thing especially noticeable in 
foreign lands, even in the grand, opulent city 
of Paris, and that is the universal recognition 
of, not only the necessity, but the commendable- 
ness of suiting one's expenditure to one's means. 
There seems to be no odium attached, as too fre- 
quently with us, to the attempt to live as cheaply 
as possible, if one's finances are slender, in order 
to put by even from such, some sort of a pro- 
vision for the "rainy day," and there are al- 
ways arrangements of a desirable and even at- 
tractive kind though of course extremely simple, 
made for persons so situated. Indeed it is 
■considered most blameworthy not to exercise a 
reasonable prudence and economy, though nat- 
urally they who have ample means find no diffi- 
culty in being relieved of any surplus. But let 
my>"solitary woman" take note of the fact that 
it is absolutely necessary to have a clear and 
specified understanding in any bargain whatso- 
ever, or one will be likely to find one's self 
charged more than one has supposed would be 
the sum total. Let her remember .that in France 
a week is reckoned at eight days and in taking a 
receipt to see that the revenue stamp required 
is not omitted. And I would strongly advise her 
to familiarize herself as much as possible with 
the currencies of the countries she means to 
visit, thus lessening her chances of being im- 
posed upon. 

Cab-hire is so inexpensive that one at first 
fritters away a considerable amount in the ag- 



48 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

gregate upon it, which afterward, when one has 
learned the routine of the very comfortable and 
convenient trams and 'buses, one is quite likely 
to regret. There are numerous lines of these and 
two or three lines of eteam-trams into certain 
suburbs, and one cable ; they traverse the city 
and environs everywhere, with no confusion and 
with unusual safety to pedestrians. 

Vehicles and equestrians, however, here as in 
Germany, have the right of way, and if you are 
run down you must "pay for it," which perhaps 
may be the secret of so comparatively few ac- 
cidents. 

Most of the trams and 'buses have an "upper- 
deck" reached by a narrow stairway and this 
upper portion is truly the pleasanter place in 
good weather, though the fare, three cents, is 
but one half that in the lower part. On these 
high, open tops may be seen widely contrasting 
groups. Bareheaded women riding on undis- 
turbed by chance wind or rain, closely contigu- 
ous to handsomely garbed ladies ; student and 
laborer, artist and shop boy, priest and washer- 
woman, side by side. One need never fear 
crowding and jamming in such conveyances in 
Paris, or almost any other foreign city, as no 
passenger may enter a vehicle unless there is a 
definite place for him. 

The sooner one gets so one can go about inde- 
pendently and understandingly, the sooner one's 
expenses may begin to lessen. It is often said, 
' 'You find English-speaking people everywhere ;" 
while this is true, generally speaking, it is also 
true that to find them you must frequent those 
lines of travel and entertainment where there is 
so much English and American business that it is 
an object to provide especially for it, but it must 
be paid for and the tourist must pay it in the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



49 



long run, so that it is is more expensive than if 
he were not thus hampered; moreover, one does 
not then get outside of the beaten track and cer- 
tainly does not get down into the real, native 
manners and styles of living, as one does to 
wander where one listeth. The country people 
are usually friendly and disposed to assist a 
stranger. 

If I might add a woi'd as to one's mental atti- 
tude when traveling, 1 would say do not go 
about in a critical or carping mood; lo(»k for 
pleasant things instead of disagreeable, both of 
which are to be found everywhere at home or 
abroad ; and above all, do not be aggressively 
American, though by no means concealing or 
apologizing for one's nativity of our own broad 
and magnificent land that, in a paltry three or 
four centuries, has, in so many respects, so far 
outranked the degree of progress attained in the 
old world through thousands of years. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Following the method of procedure recom- 
mended in the foregoing chapter, I was soon 
domiciled in a delightful family at Neuilly, a 
suburb of Paris. The proprietor of this home is 
an actor at the Theatre du Palais-Royal, where 
his wife also played until her marriage. Culti- 
vated, refined, and also delightful musicians, 
they are indeed charming in their French fash- 
ion, for they speak no English. 

There home is described as a hotel pavticulier, 
which being interpreted, means simply "a pri- 
vate house;" the word "hotel" not meaning 
necessarily, as with us, a place of public enter- 
tainment, but signifies specifically a gentleman's 
house, or a mansion of some sort for special oc- 
cupation. This one has the rare appurtenance 
of what we should term a "'yard," but called 
here a "garden." 

It is inclosed by a heav}'' wall some ten feet 
high in front, and at the sides and back by the 
neighboring walls of the high, adjacent houses. 
An iron gate closely locked and having a bell, 
defends us from all intruders. 

All through the house are found the slippery, 
waxed floors so smooth and fair to look upon, 
but so tiring to feet and ankles. The place is 
fitted up in exquisite taste, with much beauti- 
ful woodwork and fine china; everything 
glistens with polished cleanliness; the ceilings 
are very high and the house is "as cold as a 
barn." Yet it is supposed to be heated because 
in the basement there is some sort of an arrange- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 51 

ment whereby a tiny wave of warm air is sent 
through exceedingly small apertures into the 
salon on the ground floor; that is, when there is 
any fire, which is by no means continually, even 
in winter. 

Lights and fires are "extra" in France, but 
this establishment is considered to make great 
concessions because lights are "thrown in" and 
only fires in one's own rooms are extra. 

If my fancied "sister" hasnot traveled much 
in her own country, she may not know that in 
parts of our own land, as in the south and in 
California, similar conditions exist ; and I must 
own that the French landlord is in this respect 
more reasonable than the American ; for the for- 
mer charges usually so moderate a price for his 
rooms that the extras are not very burdensome, 
whereas the American, particularly the Cali- 
fornian, exacts a most exorbitant remuneration 
for his accommodations, and then calmly informs 
you that you can furnish your own heat, "as 
they do abroad." 

In this dwelling, the great, high, bare halls 
were a grand coursing-place for drafts, and the 
stone stairs and polished balustrades seemed 
chill enough. My room was so cold that I sat 
in street-garb much of the time, even to over- 
shoes and gloves, and for real warmth and com- 
fort I went to bed. 

Speaking of beds, imagine my horror on first 
beginning to reside en jjerision in France, to find 
that bed-linen is expected to do duty for three 
French weeks, twenty-four days, without 
change. I could not believe it when so informed 
on requesting the maid to bring fresh linen. I 
thought that I was being "victimized ' as a for- 
eigner; but on making inquiries among persons 
who had been longer in residence than myself, I 



52 ONE WOMAN WANDEBING 

found that this circumstance is as true as it is 
awful. Two towels are supposed to be plenty 
for the eight days" use. Usually American trav- 
elers if stopping long at one pension are impelled 
by a sense of the proprieties, to supply them- 
selves with an extra change or so and to provide 
for the laundering of the same. 

The French wash-stdnd-ewer holds about a 
quart of water, with bowl to match, and a bath- 
room is indeed a rarity. Of course the foregoing 
observations do not apply to the great hotels 
that are chiefly calculated for, and supported by 
foreign travel. 

There being a fireplace in my chamber, 1 at 
first committed the ruinous extravagance of or- 
dering a fire; but finding that the capacity of 
my fireplace was utterly disproportioned to the 
amount of space it should, but did not warm, I 
at last abandoned the measure; having then the 
partially consoling reflection that at least I was 
no longer sending up my moderate provision of 
francs through my chimney to no avail. 

How do these people endure this discomfort? 
The houses though carefully and solidly built as 
regards permanence, are yet so badly con- 
structed in regard to the conservation of heat, 
that even if fires were constant, which they 
never are, the slight degree of warmth from the 
tiny fireplaces would be entirely inadequate to 
counteract the blasts sweeping in around win- 
dows and doors, and the dampness inherent in 
the cold, stone walls. But I found that one gets 
acclimated in a measuie, after a while, though 
it was sometime before I reached that desired 
consummation. 

The interior of the average French home, 
though usually tasteful and perhaps artistic, is 
rarely cheerful and gay. These attributes are 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 53 

found outside in the boulevards and gardens. 
On tile chiilliest and dampest days of winter I 
would go back to my yensUm tired, w^et and 
cold, to find no fire in any part of the house un- 
less perchance it was near a meal-time, when 
there would be some heat in the kitchen. 

"Where is Madame, the mistress?" I would 
inquire? "Can I not go to her for fire a little?" 
"A]as! Madame is out." 
"But Madamoiselle, has she no fire?" 
"Ah! Ma'm'sel' also promenadf'S herself." 
In fact there would seldom anyone ever be 
cliez ltd except the unfortunate servants who 
must keep the hou^eholii goaig. So I would 
have to wait with benumbed fingers and toes and 
chattering teeth till a handful of fire could be 
put into the small grate in my apartment, so 
small that it was utterly unequal to heating the 
room ; but as many rooms had none at all, J en- 
deavored to be content, though vigorous drafts 
continually rushed in through the hi^h ventila- 
tor which there were no meanj of closing, and 
the fire being as I have said, literally "a hand- 
ful," genera ly went out with much greater 
celerity than it had been kindled. 

I was continually reminded of an elderly gen- 
tleman whom I met one season in Southern Cal- 
ifornia. He had just arrived from Boston to 
spend the winter in a "warm country." Like 
all new-comers, he was going about heavily 
wrapped, wearing overcoat and overshoe*, and 
almcst blue with chill. True, the sun without 
was shining gloriously, the heavens were a radi- 
ant azure, while blo^som and verdure ran riot 
everj'^where ; a state of things very different 
from that in France at the same season for, 
though it is not rt-ally cold out of doors and the 
grass and shrubs in the parks are green, yet the 



54 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

skies are gray and the trees bare. But to return to 
my old gentleman. Some one said to him one day : 

"Well, Mr. K,, how do joxi like Southern 
California?" 

"Oh," he replied, "if I could just go back to 
Boston and get warioed up once, I believe I 
should like California first rate." 

Thus with me; if I could only go back to 
Wisconsin and "get warmed up once," I should 
like Paris "first rate." 

Neuilly, though a part of Paris, is in itself a 
city of twenty nine thousand inhabitants. The 
old Chateau Nettilly, once the favorite residence 
of Louis Philippe, was totally destroyed by a 
mob in 1848. 

Near my stopping place here is a beautiful 
little chapel, St Ferdinand, erected on the spot 
where Louis Philippe's oldest son died in 1842, 
in consequence of a fall from his carriage. It 
was in Neuilly that Parmentier made his first 
experiment in the culture of the potato. A 
bronze monument near the chapel represents him 
as investigating the properties of this vegetable. 

My quarters at this time were about fifty 
steps from the Avenue de la Grande Ai-mee, 
across from which the short Boulevard des 
Sahlons leads into the lovely Bois de Boulogne. 
Being then unfamiliar with Paris, I did not 
know at first how far I was from the heart of 
the city nor that I was "without the walls." I 
came to a realizing sense of this, however, one 
day on going home in a cab, for I found I had 
not only to pay extra for the short distance be- 
yond "the gates" to my place, but was also 
actually obliged to give the driver an extra /rawc 
for himself and vehicle "to return." I felt a 
strong desire to tell the man in forcible "United 
States," that I did not care in the least whether 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 55 

he ever "returned" or not, but being a stranger 
in a strange land and limited to a small assort- 
ment of phrases in a foreign tongue, I contented 
myself with a feminine version of the thought 
attributed to the ''Dutchman's son," — ("Hans, 
I know vat you tinks. you links 'dam' !") — and 
wisely held my peace. 

After wandering about to my heart's content 
in this neighborhood, I decided to change my 
quarters. I next took up my abode in a "cute" 
little family hotel just around the corner from 
the Madeleine and near the Tuileries. Every- 
thing here was on such a diminutive scale that 
it seemed almost like a toy establishment. 

I was taken past a pretty, little salon and a 
neat little dining-room to an upper story where, 
passing through a doorway about two feet 
wide, invisible when closed, I was conducted 
down a narrow, dark, quaint, "corkscrewy" 
little passage most delightfully "Dickensy, " 
into a tiny, semi-circular chamber that took my 
fancy at once. To my surprise, considering the 
tortuous and inconvenient method of approach, 
the room turned out to be in front overlooking 
the avenue ; it was most beautifully light and 
shiningly clean. 

Wonder of wonders, — for thpy are so rare 
here, — this house possesses an elevator, or ascen- 
seiir. It is an automatic affair, circular, and on 
crowding might hold four persons. When I 
desired to go to my room that evening, I was 
inducted into this machine, a bit of candle in a 
glittering brass holder was given me, a lever 
was moved and I began to ascend. Comical 
enough I felt to be rising thus by some unseen 
agency, slowly and steadily, candle in hand, all 
alone, straight up through the center of this 
unfamiliar edifice. 

But I arrived safely at my floor, when the m^' 



56 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

chine, giving a jerk and a mysterious grunt, 
stopped short and I let myself out upon the 
landing. I found out afterward that it was a 
sort of an unwritten law of the house, that per- 
sons should go down by staircase instead of ele- 
vator, it being I suppose, only an "elevator" 
pure and simple, and not a "depressor" as well. 

At this place, for the first time since my 
arrival in France, the rather odd but very com- 
fortable feather cushion for the outside of the 
bed was missing ; also the bed-curtains, which I 
never can see without being reminded of Mr. 
Pickwick's adventure with "the lady in the yel- 
low curl-papers." My floor was bare, painted 
in a set figure mainly dark blue, and varnished 
till it resembled enamel. A soft, large rug cov- 
ered the center. On one side, or rather, in the 
middle of the semi-circle, was a recess, and in 
this was an affair new to me but which I judged 
to be some sort of heater. It looked like a little 
temple with flat top of dark marble from which 
a large pipe led into the wall. Otherwise the 
apartment had no special peculiarities. 

Settling myself here, I should have been very 
comfortable, had not light and heat been con- 
sidered such luxuries. 

It may be of interest to mention that this 
house advertises no charge for light and atten- 
dance. This, however, does not preclude the 
necessity of giving tips. It only does away with 
the fixed charge in one's bill of a certain amount 
every day under that head. 

The light, tt my amusement, I found was half 
a candle per diei)i.\ if this would not serve, guests 
had the privilege of paying for more candles or 
a lamp or electricity. But I will add that the 
charges here were not at all exorbitant, especi- 
ally in consideration of the very desirable loca- 
tion. 



CHAPTER VII. 

And now I devote myself to exploring Paris, 
Strolling along through the wide, wonderful 
boulevards, gazing into the bewilderingly beau- 
tiful shop-windows, dropping here and there 
into the convenient restaurants always filled 
with a tidy, happy, prosperous-seeming throng, 
and prowling about in the queer little streets 
that lead from the great avenues, one notes such 
peculiar customs, such strange and motley garbs, 
such a variety of persons. 

A large number are in conventual or clerical 
attire of some sort or other, that of the women 
not being specially unusual, but that of the men 
sometimes unique enough. I met a sturdy young 
fellow the other day arrayed in what might, in 
a "Ladies' Magazine," be described as a "very 
genteel walking-costume." 

He wore a kind of princesi>e robe with full 
skirt just clearing the ground. A wide sash 
encircled his rather robust waist, w^s knotted 
behind and floated downward to the edge of his 
gown, A pretty shoulder cape and a modest 
hat looped up at the side with a chaste cord and 
tassel, black like the rest of his costume, com- 
pleted his very feminine dress, if I may except 
his stout, serviceable boots of unmistakable mas- 
culinity, which looked odd enough appearing 
below his otherwise womanly array. 

I see every day any number of plump old 
gentlemen walking about in little be-ruffled and 
be-laced white muslin "breakfast jackets" sup- 
plemented by neat, black skirts which they 



58 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

deftly hold up from the pavement in the most 
ladylike manner; also others in comfortable 
though not very becoming mantillas and flowing 
robes of black, brown or white, and with wide- 
rimmed w^alking-hats that appertain quite as- 
much to the female as the male human being, so 
that it really sometimes seems that, in Paris, a 
state of affairs exists contrary to that alleged of 
the United States, and that men are appropriating 
the garb of women instead of women adopting 
that of men. 

Then there are the soldiers with their gay- 
colored uniforms, some red and blue, others blue 
and yellow, red and yellow, blue and white and 
gold, silver-trimmed, gold-trimmed,lace-trimmed, 
braid-trimmed, infinitely varied in style and 
combination ; some in the old Zouave dress fa- 
miliar in the United States in the sixties ; some 
in more modern "bloomer" costume; still others- 
with great knee-boots and glittering helmets and 
floating plumes, riding, driving, walking, march- 
ing by squads, standing guard at all public 
buildings, and so forth and so forth. 

To one soldier, however, I am indebted for an 
amusing spectacle. He came rushing down the 
street in full uniform on a bicycle. He wore a 
shining metal helmet, heavy and hot, trousers^ 
of a brilliant red and fashioned in expansive 
bloomer style, polished high boots of cumbrous 
make, and a great blue cape that floated out 
from his shoulders like huge wings, giving him 
the appearance of some unwieldy, tropical bird 
that might have swooped down upon the wheel 
and was struggling to rise again with it in his 
talons. 

Walking one day down the Boulevard des Ca- 
puci'nes, I was suddenly surrounded by an eager 
and animated crowd which looked and pointed 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 59 

excitedly up the street. The roadway was 
quickly cleared and on came a dazzling caval- 
cade in full military array, horses prancing, ac- 
coutrements jangling, every appointment in im- 
maculate order, as it swept by us in hot haste, 
escorting a rapidly-rolling close carriage which 
was followed by a second detachment of finely 
caparisoned cavalry. 

"What is it all?" I hastily inquired of a by- 
stander. 

"Oh, Madame!" was the reply, "it is the 
President who passes!" 

The President! Ah, yes. They have no mon- 
arch here! Vive la Bepabliquel 

All this parade and display of armed men 
seems very strange to a resident of a republic 
that rarely has occasion to demand military ser- 
vice, though never finding it deficient when re- 
quired. I suppose it is impossible for us in our 
great, free country, with wide oceans between us 
and our most powerful neighbors, to realize 
what it must be to live constantly on guard 
against foreign invasion. Let us remember and 
be thankful. 

Not that the President of France invariably 
goes about in this ostentatious manner. I am 
told that he sometimes is seen proceeding alone 
like any unimportant individual. But since the 
assassination of the preceding President and the 
present disturbed state of affairs on the frontiers, 
there has been manifest even more than usual 
of the pomp and circumstance of military au- 
thority. 

The streets of Paris at present do not show as 
many cyclers in proportion to the passers, as are 
to be noted in our cities when the roads are in 
good condition, as they are here at all times. 
The Bois de Boulogne is said to be a favorite 



60 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

wheeling-ground but even there cyclers are now 
comparatively few ; all of which leads me to con- 
jecture thnt perhaps cycling in Paiis is less a 
matter of bui^iness than with us, and is there- 
fore practiced principal)}' when most likely to be 
pleasurable as well as speedy. The pavements 
are in excellent shape and the temperature gener- 
ally not colder than with us in the middle of Octo- 
ber, and at the present writing, (March)becoming 
steadily warmer, in fact, in the country peach 
and almond trees in bloom ; still on many days I 
see no bicycles at all and as yet have encountered 
but one female rider. 

This was on the Boulevard Haiismann, in the 
very heart of one of the busiest quarters. She 
presented rather a startling appearance, being 
clad in a bright pink shirt-waist, white hat, veil, 
gloves and shoes, with hose and accordeon- 
pleated bloomers of a soft dove-color. She 
seemed not a whit abashed by her overwhelm- 
ing minority but crossed the street just ahead of 
me, trundling her wheel with the utmost non- 
chalance. 

I had been in Paris nearly two months before I 
discovered an electric car and my discovery was 
accidental, all persons of whom I had inquired 
never having seen any in the city and being una- 
ware that the cars had been introduced here at all. 
One day, however,! was journeying out in the sub- 
urbs, and after proceeding a part of the way by 
horse-tram, 1 v/as informed that I must at a cer- 
tain poinr, exchange into a tra}ii, electrique\ then 
I ascertained that there are three such lines, 
though none of them cross the heart of the city, 
but proceed outward respectively from the Made- 
leine, the Opera and the Place de In. liepuldique. 
These cars are two-storied like most of the trams 
and 'buses of Paris, but unlike them, have a 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 61 

canopy over the upper story that shields from 
sun or rain. The only other time that I ever 
met with this style was in our own country at 
Coronado Beach, Southern California. While I 
was in Paris, a great agitation was going on in 
the newspapers concerning the feasibility of an 
electric route across the Place de la Gnucorde. 
The project was most violently opposed by a 
large number, but I think it will be put through 
in time. 

One of these electric lines leads to St. Denis, st, 
city of about sixty th >usand inhabitants and a 
prosperous indui^trial-center. Both the route 
thereto and the city itself are very unattractive ; 
there is nothing whatever to please the eye, and 
there would, I presume, be few visitors in this 
direction were it not for the antique cathedral 
or Basilique, which is interesting as being the 
burial place of the ancient kings. 

The monuments that mark these royal rest- 
ing-places, (though in some cases the bodies 
have bt^ en removed,) are within the cathedral 
and, in many instances, of rare and exquisite de- 
sign and execution; others are more curious and 
interesting than beautiful, while most of them 
are more or less imposing. 

A very singular feature is noticeable in one or 
two of the larger and more elaborate tombs ; this 
is the representation, — in addition to life-sized 
figures of the commemorated majesties in full 
coronation-robes, — of a second set of life-sized 
figures of the same personages in recumbent pos- 
ture and, in fact, at the moment of death. These 
last are intensely realistic, nearly nude, with 
convulsed limbs and distorted countenances, and 
present a grewsome and ghastly spectacle. 

This cathedral is one of the few places either 
in or about Paris, where visitors are not permit- 



62 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ted to go about without a guide. It seems a 
pity to have it so anywhere, because the profes- 
sional guide always hurries one on so, in order, 
I suppose, to receive the gratuities of ore party 
and be ready for the next. Then if you happen 
to ask him an unexpected question, he is all put 
out and has to go back and begin over again. 

The Basilique of St. Denis occupies the tradi- 
tional site of a chapel erected about the year 275 
above the grave of St. Dionysius or Denis, the 
first bishop of Paris, who suffered martyrdom in 
270 on a hill famous in the annals of Paris, now 
known as Butte Ilontin artre,\i\\t formerly Mons 
Martyrum or Mons Martis. 

St. Denis may also be reached by railway if 
one prefers, as may almost any of the suburbs. 
The tramway is cheaper but takes more time. I, 
myself, usually choose the latter mode of trans- 
portation because it leads more directly among 
the people, winding in and around through the 
busy streets and stopping wherever one may 
suddenly wish to pursue some side line of ex- 
ploration. 

To St. Cloud, Versailles and Sevres, I went 
by ?^ team- tram ; this is a very pleasant route, 
taking one through charming little suburban 
centers and affording a lovely prospect of semi- 
rural scenes. One may also go by boat on the 
Seine, a most inexpensive method and delight- 
ful in the season; J, however, found it too chilly 
for this during my stay in Paris. 

Serves is a charming village, picturesque in 
itself and specially interesting as being the place 
where ihe lovely Sevres porcelain is made. The 
manufactory has been the property of the gov- 
ernment since 1756. The exhibition-rooms con- 
tain exquisite and pricele.-s specimens of this 
lovely vi are, but the work-shops are not fully 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 63 

thrown open to the public, the most interesting 
processes being kept secret. The present build- 
ing is compartively modern; the old manufac- 
tory, at a little distance, is now refitted and 
used as a normal-school for young women. 

St. Germain, St. Cloud, Fontainebleau, Ver- 
sailles and the Trianons ; what a flood of recol- 
lections rushes through the mind of the lover of 
history and romance at the very names. It 
seemed so wonderful to think I was actually 
there ; I, who first saw the light thousands of 
leagues away across mountain, moor and main, 
long, long years after the startling events, thrill- 
ing spectacles and brilliant pageants that fol- 
lowed in such swift succession within the 
boundaries of these royal residences, had 
wrought their destined effect in the history of 
mankind and, with all their actors, had vanished 
forever into the impenetrable past. 

Births, marriages, revolutions, bloodshed, 
death, all have had their turn in these spacious 
areas lying here now so peacefully silent, and 
still the sun shines down and the leaves rustle 
and the fountains play unaltered. 

What a long line of ghostly footsteps go steal- 
ing down the quiet avenues. They do not dis- 
turb the gay and thoughtless, modern pleasure- 
seekers who scarce remember, if they ever knew, 
the noted names, famous and infamous, once so 
familiar throughout all the length and breadth 
of the known world. 

Louises VII., XIII., XIV., XV., and XVI., 
Francis I., Henrys III. and IV., Charles V., Na- 
poleons I. and III., Louis Philippe, Pius VII., 
Queen Christine, Marshall Biron, the Grande 
Conde, Voltaire, Pompadour, Du Barri, Charles 
X., Marie Antoinette, Bluecher, Josephine, — 
how vain to try to complete the roll, to recall the 
innuaierable multitude, — but all are gone. 



64 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Yet the influence of their lives and fortunes 
goes on for good or evil, and the world can 
never be as if they had not been 

In thope days more or less ancient, these lovely 
pleasure-grounds and elegant chdteaus were 
far removed from the bustle and turmoil of what 
was even then called the great and wonderful 
city, but to-day we scarcely know when we have 
left the city proper behind us and entered into 
the environs. Everywhere are similar, beautiful 
and interesting scenes; everywhere the busy 
streets and the thronging people. 

I have seen no baby-cubs as yet in the streets 
of Paris. Babies there are in hosts, and the 
parks, or "gardens" as they are termed, are 
swarming with children of all sizes and condi- 
tions in all weathers. Perhaps the baby-cabs 
and the bicycles are waiting for the summer, 
though I should think these lovely spring days 
might bring them out. The babies are borne in 
the arms of a bonve, usually a gayly arrayed 
female in a long, full cloak of soft, bright cloth^ 
no bonnet, but a snowy muslin or lace cap hand- 
somely fluted and decorated with very broad, 
brilliant ribbons that stream downward over the 
back of her attire. The babies themselves are 
all in white ; white, close bonnets with funny- 
little white pompons standing up stitf and defi- 
ant, white cloaks, white veils and white mittens; 
they cuddle down comfortably in the arms of the 
bonne as she strides along, and view the world 
with complacent eyes. Imagine the disgusted 
dismay of the average United States "nurse- 
girl," were it even suggested that she perform 
like service. 

The cats of Paris seem to be a favor* d set of 
felines ; fat and frisky, saucy and sleek, of un- 
common size and possessing unusually long, 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 65 

thick fur, they challenge admiration in restau- 
ant, shop, and even in the parks, by their naajes- 
tic presence and condescendingly sociable ways. 
One magnificent, great, brindled fellow took it 
upon himself to superintend my breakfasts at a 
delightful little cremerie to which he was at- 
tached. Seated upon a chair near by, and sing- 
ing charmingly the while, he gravely inspected 
my operations as I disposed of my coffee and 
roll. He would accept proffered morsels most 
politely, but evidently only to avoid mortifying 
me by a refusal, for he never ate them but 
deposited them at his feet where he gazed upon 
them pensively from time to time. When I later 
went to another part of the city, I much re- 
gretted severing my connection with his catship, 
but had the satisfaction of knowing he was well 
cared for. Indeed these animals seem every- 
where to be treated with the utmost deference. 
I did not see a starved or frightened looking cat 
while I was in the city. Even the dogs seem to 
regard them with profound respect. 

But the horses, the poor horses ! How they 
are whacked and lashed both with whip and 
tongue ; how weighed down and overtasked 
with impossible loads on these stony, slippery 
streets where there is no foothold for them. I 
have seen them fall again and again only to be 
kicked and pounded and cursed until they 
should struggle up from their poor, broken 
knees. It makes one's heart ache. 

I have seen only five colored persons during 
my sojourn here amidst this vast multitude of 
people. This seems strange to a resident of 
even the northern United States, and compared 
with my experience last winter in the region of 
orange and palm, in our southern section, where 
the very atmosphere seems darkened by their 



66 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

omnipresence, their absence here is conspicuous. 
By the way it is rather amusing to note how 
foreigners universally confuse our northern and 
southern states with North and South America. 
One can scarcely bring them to comprehend that 
a resident of a southern state is not a South 
American. 

Then others, on learning that I am an Ameri- 
can, have been quite astonished to find that I 
have no extensive personal acquaintance with 
the "red Indian." I have met, however, with 
this latter species of astonishment at home m 
our own New England, where surely it is inex- 
cusable, and one would suppose impossible to per- 
sons of the intelligence and general information 
of the average New Englander. But it is a 
fact that he, and I do not know but that I may 
also without error include the Middle Statesian, 
often looks upon his compatriot outside these 
specified localities, as being but little, if at all, 
removed from barbarism. I do not think such 
a state of opinion concerning their fellow-coun- 
trymen prevails among inhabitants of different 
sections of other countries, — but this is a di- 
gression. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The season of the carnival is celebrated with 
much vigor in Paris. All sorts of practical 
jokes seem to be in order, and the throwing of 
covfetti, — minute disks of thin, bright-colored 
paper, — into unexpecting faces never fails to 
produce convulsive merriment in the beholders, 
while the recipients take it, according to their 
temperaments, with smiles or wrath. 

The streets looked very festive with the vari- 
colored showers everywhere pervading and the 
gay streamers of tinted paper twined and inter- 
twined and floating from every possible niche, 
nook, angle and projection of column, gable 
and tree. 

It seemed to be a point of honor for everybody 
to seize any such floating streamer within his 
reach and carry it onward with him until it 
should snap from the strain, when it would be 
wound around the neck or wrist of the captor, 
adding to the jubilant appearance of the throng. 

A year before, I w^as in New Orleans during 
the carnival-time and, though Parisians have the 
name of being the gayest people in the world, 
still it has seemed to me that here they did not 
appear so joyous and light-hearted as the merry 
crowds in that southern city. In fact, much of 
the Parisian fun seemed to be largely of a lower 
grade and there was much intoxication observ- 
able both in men and women. 

The street-parades in New Orleans too, were 
more beautiful, strange though this may seem, 
for of course, taste, ingenuity and expense to 

67 



68 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

the wildest extravagance, are b}^ no means defi- 
cient here in Paris. I fancy climate has some- 
thing to do with the character of the festival ; 
here the skies were of a chilly blue and the wind 
was too strong for comfort, while there the 
genial sun was shining prodigally, the air was 
soft and balmy, and inanimate nature as well as 
man himself seemed to rejoice. 

Of course all sorts of gay parties, hal masques 
and extravagancies wax fast and furious in these 
the closing days of the carnivale, or "farewell 
to the flesh." I did not see or hear of anything 
in Paris corresponding to the beautiful pageant 
at this season in New Orleans, when Rex and 
his royal retinue approach the city in a fine «hip 
and are welcomed with pomp and splendor as 
the keys of the city are presented to him. 

In New Orleans the queen of the carnival is 
chosen from the ranks of refined society, as a 
few years ago when the daughter of Jefferson 
Davis figured in that role; but I was surprised 
to learn that here in Paris the choice is made 
from the blanchissevses, or in plain English, the 
washerwomen. In the middle of Lent in this 
part of the world, there is a relaxation period 
which, I think, does not obtain widely, if at all, 
in the United States, and this is called Mi-Car- 
eme. Then come more parades, more confetti, 
another washerwoman is chosen queeia and the 
community is given over again to the ''world, 
the flesh and the de — " lights of feasting and 
revelry for a few hours, when sackcloth and 
ashes are supposed to prevail once more until 
Easter Sunday. V 

Sunday as we understand it at home does 
not exist in Paris. That the day has come is 
manifested by an increased jubilance and hilarity 
throughout the boulevards and avenues. True 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 69 

there are services in the churches, but so there are 
on so many other days that this is no distinction. 
Most places of businetrs are open if not in active 
operation and many reserve their most brilliant 
displays for this day. There are a few excep- 
tions, however, chiefly among American and 
English houses. 

Failing one Sunday to secure a copy of the 
NeiD York Herald at the news-stands, I 
thought I would step into the office on the 
Avenue de V Opera to get one. Arriving 
there, though the place did not seem to 
be formally closed, I yet found myself unable 
to open the door for the simple reason that the 
outside part of the handle was missing. This 
had exactly the same effect as might be in case 
of the traditional "latch-siring" when pulled in; 
there was nothing on which one could lay hold 
to raise the latch. This was so very peculiar a 
situation that I was undecided as to whether 
it might not be accidental, instead of being meant 
to keep out visitors. 

A number of gentlemen were standing outside, 
reading through the windows the news-sheets 
that are always displayed close to the glass and, 
after much cogitation as to the form of my 
phrase, I finally mustered courage to address one 
of them for information, so in my very best 
French I asked him if he could tell me whether 
the office were really closed. To my surprise he 
turned red, looked embarrassed and at last said 
in broken French, "I do not understand." 

"Oh," said I in my native tongue, "you are 
English." 

"No," he replied, "American, from Mich- 
igan." 

I then told him I was his "neighbor" from 
Wisconsin, and we both, strangers though we 



70 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

were, indulged in a little laugh over our painful 
and needless struggles to communicate in French. 
But 1 did not get into the Herald office. 

One unique characteristic in public worship 
here fills the average American mind with 
amazement and, I fear, amusement. This is the 
employment of beadles, or Svisses, who are a 
regular feature in all the great churches of Paris. 
They are usually very large, finely-built men 
and are most gorgeously attired. They serve in 
pairs as nearly matched as possible in height and 
size, and it is a sight to be remembered to be- 
hold them stepping out in their rich velvet, 
gold-trimmed dress-coats, their marvelous, long 
waist-coats and superb "continuations," — as 
Dickens has it, — their delicate stockings, won- 
derful cocked-hats and buckled shoes. 

Each wears a lengthy gold chain and bears a 
heavy, glittering baton of office, about five feet 
long, and at certain points in the service, such 
as conducting the celebrant to and from the 
altar, or taking the collections, they precede the 
line of attendants and at each step, bring down 
their heavy rods to the floor with a grand thud 
that is most impressive. Their office seems to 
be purely ornamental as, except to head and es- 
cort these various personages and processions 
about the church, they perform no service what- 
ever. They deign not themselves to handle the 
little velvet bags into which are dropped the 
contributions of the congregation. No, indeed! 
This inferior duty is performed by what, I pre- 
sume, they consider inferior creatures, that is, 
by women, who meekly trot about after "their 
high-mightinesses"and deprecatingly present the 
bags to each of the spectators. 

The theaters and all places of entertainment 
are in full blast on Sunday, both matinees and 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 71 

evening performances being given at most of 
thero. During the week they are open nightly 
and, in a few instances, for a Thursday matinee 
and are always crowded. 

At the Opera House are the grandest and most 
imposing spectacles; the Odeon is devoted prin- 
cipally to the classic drama, while the Theatre 
Francais is noted for the elegance and purity of 
its diction. The Vaudevilles, Theatres des 
Varietes and des Oaite, the music-halls and the 
Cafes-Concerts are of course, without end. 

It looked very odd to me to see men sitting 
during the play with their hats on, and also to 
see both men and women leave their places be- 
tween acts and pass into the halls and foyers for 
promenading and refreshment. No orchestra is 
visible at any theater that I have visited, though 
-audible from behind the scenes. In some parts 
of the theater, ladies are obliged to remove their 
hats; in others, one must appear in full dress or 
be refused admittance; there are women in at- 
tendance to take charge of one's wraps for a 
small fee, which however is not a definite charge, 
but regulated by the patron's means or generos- 
ity. I had a somewhat mortifying and yet 
amusing experience at one of my visits to the 
theater. I had gone in haste and omitted to as- 
certain as usual the contents of my purse before 
starting out. Not until I went to claim my 
wraps after the performance, and had opened 
my pocket-book to tip the attendant, did I be- 
come aware that 1 had nothing whatever therein, 
over and above my fare home, but two insignifi- 
cant bronze coins equal to about a cent and a 
half of United States money. 

In vain I held my empty purse open depreca- 
tingly before the eyes oi: the lofty and important 
functionary who, in all her dignity of be- 



72 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

starched and be-f rilled cap and apron, was wait- 
ing my favors while I eagerly sought to explain 
in my halting French, how I had neglected to pro- 
vide myself with money, and how annoyed and 
sorry I was to be unable to recompense her in a 
fitting manner ; she would have none of my 
explanations; she only conceived that I was of- 
fering her that insultingly trifling sum, and she 
brushed aside all my apologies with the freez- 
ingly sarcastic words: ''Since you are so pooi\ 
Madame," — what a scathing emphasis there 
was on chose two words as she measured me 
from head to foot taking in my somewhat festal 
attire! — "I will take pity on you; you may 
keep your seven centimes V Humbled and 
abashed, I crept away but my keen enjoyment 
of the utter absurdity of the situation was a 
most happy mitigation of the crushing effects of 
the dame's disdainful irony. 

In some of the theaters one must pay extra 
for a program, but at the Opera and the Franca is 
at least, these are furnished free of charge. 

The feature in Paris theaters the hardest, I 
think, for Americans to understand, is the 
claque, or company of paid applauders. 

They usually sit, I am told, in the center of 
the house, underneath the great chandelier. 
They lead off at intervals with vigorous rounds 
of applause, most vigorous if failing to elicit 
addr-d applause from the general audience. I 
understand that many attempts have been made 
to abolibh this singular custom,all of which have 
thus far failed. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Funerals here are dismally pompous affairs and 
yet they do not seem solemn. The ceremonies 
are so overdone and the mechanism so apparent 
that the force of the pageant is lost. 

Going to the Madeleine one Sunday, I found 
the whole imposing front of that classic edifice 
covered by two great black curtains looped back 
in the center. These were edged with white 
fringe and had a wide border in Grecian key pat- 
tern. 

On the broad, colonnaded portico stood a 
large table with like Governing, and here sat a 
being in an immense black cocked-hat trimmed 
to match, as were his long waistcoat, knee- 
breeches and swallow-tailed coat. His gloves 
were white, his long hose were black and he 
wore low, black shoes with frosted buckles. He 
seemed to be the master of ceremonies. Fancy 
our decorous and unassuming funeral directors 
in the United States, tricked out in this manner. 

Inside the building were two grand and awful 
personages in the same depressing garb, each 
bearing a huge staff with black streamers. The 
demeanor of these mighty-seeming ones, how- 
ever, did not comport with their majestic ap 
pearance. for they ambled about hither and yon 
and seemed, — to use a plebeian but forcible ex- 
pression, — to be"sticking their noses into every- 
thing." 

A number of persons were standing about 
here and there, others walking around, still 
others sitting; (by the way, if you take a seat 

73 



74 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

in any of these churches, you must pay three 
cents, which is collected during service when- 
ever one sits down ;) all were staring. 

In the center of the church stood a high bier 
heavily draped, as was the interior of the build- 
ing everywhere, in the black, white-fringed and 
bordered trappings of woe. Innumerable can- 
dles in tall, massive holders faintly illuminated 
this bier and the high altar. 

With the melancholy reflections naturally 
suggested by these symbols of mortality, I gazed 
upon the bier, supposing of course that upon its 
top and draped by that heavy pall, rested the 
pulseless form of one who would tread life's 
paths no more. There was some music to be 
heard at intervals but no one paid any attention 
to it. There were no mourners visible, no one 
seeming to have any closer connection with the 
deceased than the hired functionaries and the 
careless spectators. 

All this time, men, evidently workmen, were 
running to and fro in the church and continually 
breaking in upon what should have been the sol- 
emnity of the occasion. After some time two 
of these men, going up to the catafalque, as I 
supposed to lift from off it the casket, stooped 
down instead, flung up the drapery, revealing 
a flimsy, cheap, unpainted framework, and there 
underneath upon the bare floor stood a plain 
wooden coffin. This they shoved out by means 
of feet and hands into the aisle, where some more 
men got hold of it and began to carry it out. 

At the same time other men commenced pul- 
ling down the bier, piling up its light timbers 
and rolling up the drapery; others extinguished 
the tapers, dis'-losing thereby that they were 
but candle-ends stuck into long tubes simulat- 
ing candles; others still grabbed up the heavy 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 75 

candle-sticks. whereby I saw that they were only 
wood silvered over, and others again appeared 
in the upper galleries and, runring along on 
the wide cornices, began to rip oft' the heavy 
curtains with all possible speed, throwing them 
to the floor,thus dislodging much dust and niusti- 
ness and evoking consequent numberless sneezes 
through the sacred edifice as the men devoted 
themselves to bundling up everything pertaining 
to the occasion, getting it outside with great 
celerity. All this while the body was yet on its 
way to the door and the congregation still stand- 
ing about within the church. 

With the current of my thoughts effectually 
changed I went outside, narrowly escaping beinij 
knocked over by the hurrying workmen with 
their heavy loads. Finding a safe spot I looked 
down from the imposing colonnade upon the 
broad, bright avenues below. 

A long line of mouraing-coaches was drawn 
up in waiting, each almost hidden beneath black, 
white-edged draperies, and provided with horses 
also nearly concealed under similar funereal 
housings ; while, attired like the beadles in 
cocked hats, knee-breeches and all the appurten- 
ances, the coachmen sat upon their boxes gloomily 
monumental. A few men clad in the same style 
walked at each side near the head of the cortege ; 
immediately following the huge, grewsomely 
decorated hearse was a long double row of men 
and women on foot ; after these came other heav- 
ily and lugubriously draped carriages. 

Thus was this solemn ceremony conducted at 
the Madeleine, that classically beautiful and his- 
torically interesting pile, one of the finest and 
most important of the sacred temples of Paris. 

Since then I have seen many another Paris- 
ian funeral where there was not even the impos- 



76 ONE WOMA.N WANDERING 

ing effect of a large scale of operations, yet they 
were all carried on in the same ponderou-; and 
artificial manner, the grandeur and extent of she 
display being, I suppose, regulated by the purse 
of the afflicted family. 

We talk of funeral reform at home, but after 
witnessing such a mechanical and cumbersomely 
dreadful pageant, our most elaborate method 
seems simplicity itself ; and at any rate with us 
there is a gravity and a quietude of procedure 
that causes no jar to the tenderest sensibilities 
by its too obvious machinery. 

The Madeline is not an ancient edifice as anti- 
quity is reckoned abroad. Founded but little 
over a century ago in 1764, its construction con- 
tinued until 1842. I lingered within the stately 
portico through which already have passed such 
innumerable multitudes, the distinguished, the 
renowned, the insignificant, to mingle with the 
ceaseless stream below in activity, or to be borne 
on, silent and passive, never to return. 

The soft spring sunshine fell peacefully down, 
lighting up roof and pavement, pillar, facade 
and people with a faint glow. The long funeral 
train moved off in its progress toward the dis- 
tant cemetery. As it wound along the brilliant 
boulevards a strange quiet fell upon the hubbub 
and unrest of the changeful scene. Men bared 
their heads ; men, women and children crossed 
themselves and stood silent. Such is the custom 
here. It has a singular effect sometimes in the 
midst of the gay, busy, hurrying thro og. 

The principal cemeteries of Paris perhaps, are 
those of Pere Lavhaise^ Montinartre^ Montpar- 
wasseand Ficpus, of which the first is easily the 
leader. There are in all, I understand, about 
twenty-two or three. 

The space parceled out as one lot in these cem- 



ONE WOMAN WONDERING 77 

eteries is limited in the extreme, and the large and 
imposing memorials huddled together in conse- 
quence, present a disorderly and uncomfortable 
spectacle to one accustomed to the usual spacious 
areas and almost boundless vistas of America's 
broad acres. There is, I am told, an average of 
nearly one hundred graves required daily in 
Paris, so that the above burial spots would be 
greatly inadequate, were it not that the poor are 
committed to the Fosses Uommicnes, or Public 
Trenches, large pits each containing from forty 
to fifty coffins. 

. Baedeker informs us that burials in such "com- 
mon graves"now take place outside the precincts 
of the city only. 

Burial-places for the individual are secured in 
a variety of ways, of which outright purchase, 
the ordinary method among us, is rare and diffi- 
cult. A Concession a perpetuite, or perpetual 
privilege, granting a very small, private burial- 
place of twenty-two and one-half square feet, 
may be obtained for about two hundred dollars, 
the price of each additional square meter(about 
eleven and one-third square feet), beyond six, is 
six hundred dollars. A Concession Trentenaire 
providing that a grave shall remain undisturbed 
for thirty years, may be had for sixty dollars ; a 
Concession Teniporaire for five years, ten dol- 
lars. After the time of each limited concession 
has expired, unless it is renewed, ihe bones must 
be removed to the Fosses Communes to make 
place for more recent interments for which those 
interested will pay the price. 

So the majority of graves are practically only 
rented and, as in life, if the rent is unpaid, out 
you go. This, I dare say, seems as shocking to my 
"suppositious sister"asit did to me when I first 
learned it; if so, she will be surprised to hear 



78 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

that I did not come upon this state of things 
first abroad, but in our own city of New Orlenns, 
whicli lias so many truly French customs. I be- 
lieve like arrangements prevail to more or less 
extent, in most crowded cities abroad. 

All this has given rise to a number of burial 
associations, the members of which contribute 
to a fund for the purchase of a plot of ground in 
a cemetery, whereon is erected a general tomb 
provided with receptacles for a certain number 
of bodies. This arrangement like many other 
wholesale dealings, comes much cheaper than 
the individual purchase singly, and assures each 
member of an undisturbed place of repose after 
"life's fitful fever." 

To quote a popular hand-book, all burials 
within the Department of the Seine are con- 
ducted by a certain Funeral Organization whose 
charges are regulated by tariff varying from 
sixty cents to nearly fifteen hundred dollars, 
exclusive of the price of the coffin and the offici- 
ating clergyman's fee. Two chaplains are at- 
tached to each cemetery for the gratuitous per- 
formance of the burial rites of the poor. 

Pere Lachaise, or the Cimetiere de V Est, is 
the largest and most interesting of Paris ceme- 
teries. It is named after Father Lachaise, the 
Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV., and occupies the 
site of that prelate's country-seat. It lies on a 
low, undulating hill at the extreme east end of 
the city, within the walls. It has an area of 
one hundred and ten acres and contains more 
than twenty thousand monuments, many of 
which "are deeply interesting as memorials of 
great personages, while others are noteworthy 
on account of artistic excellence." 

How touching here as everywhere, the vain 
attempt to keep in the memor}^ of man, that 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 79 

existence which, however dear and necessary to 
its own bereaved circle, has yet left no other 
influence to impress the world at large. Others 
there are whose lives shall never be forgotten, 
and large indeed is the number of these who 
here rest from their labors. How startling the 
wondrous array of illustrious names that gleams 
forth at every turn. 

Singer, soldier, scholar and statesman ; poet, 
philosopher, priest and painter ; actor, artist, 
author and ambassador; astronomer and archae- 
ologist ; composer and consul ; who could recount 
them all? To think that this dust beneath our 
feet enshrines the mortal housings of every 
phase of divine genius, of dauntless bravery, of 
exalted excellence, that the world has ever 
known. All at the same level now and whirled 
around resistless from sun to sun, "with rocks, 
and stones, and trees." "But thanks be to God 
Who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ," 

It is in this cemetery that are interred the 
bodies of Abelard and Heloise who, in spite of 
their varying fortunes and their phenomenal 
gifts and learning, are remembered chiefly by 
mankind in general, through the piteous tale of 
their most woeful love. Their recumbent statues 
lie upon a sarcophagus beneath a Gothic canopy, 
all of dark marble, and re-constructed by Lenoir 
from fragments of an old monument. 

Upon the tomb of Alfred de Mus-^et are in- 
scribed his own beautiful lines which may be 
freel}^ translated as follows: 

"Dear friends, I pray, when I shall die 
Plant near my grave a willow tree ; 

I love its rustle sweetly sad, 

Its leafage pale is dear to me. 

Its shadows soft shall lightly rest 

Upon the earth above my breast." 



80 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

His wish is gratified for a willow gently mur- 
murs above his dust. 

Over the grave of Paul Baudry is a bronze 
bust and statue with the following brief but 
touching inscription upon the pedestal ; 

"Glory hath crowned thee, and I, — I mourn 
thee, alas! a widow alone with my babes." 

An attempt to depict the wonderful beauties 
and artistic perfections so lavishly displayed 
here as elsewhere, does not come within the 
province of this unpretending manual; and 
small need is there that it should, in view of the 
gifted and exhaustive works already published 
along these lines. Sometimes, as one wanders 
on in a scene which, though in itself unfamiliar, 
may yet be a type of others better known, and 
with the mind prepared for a certain sameness 
and routine in objects and occurrences, there 
will occasionally start forth something a little dif- 
ferent, thus specially attracting one's attention, 
though in detail it may be nothing particularly 
noteworthy. To record such intelligibly and 
possibly with some interest to another as they 
strike me, is all that I can hope to achieve. 

A very odd and conspicuous monument is to 
be seen at the western end of the Avenue Trans- 
versale, No. 1, and is visible so far away as the 
Arc cV Etoile in the Champs Ely sees. It con- 
sists of a huge pyramid one hundred and five 
feet high, and was erected to himself at a cost 
of twenty thousand dollars, by Felix de Beau- 
jour, formerly a consul. Strange to say, this 
work is popularly known as the "sugar-bread." 

There is a Jewish cemetery includefl within \ 
the boundaries of Pere Lachaise and in this 
portion is the family tomb of the noted Roths- 
childs. Madame Rachel, the great tragedien7ie, 
is also buried here. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 81 

At the extreme north end of Pere Lachaise is 
situated a Crematory which though unfinished, 
has been in use i^ince 1889. I am told that the 
process of cremation lasts one hour and is accom- 
plished by means of refracted heat from a fire 
of eight hundred degrees. 

The flames do not touch the corpse. The 
ashes left weigh about one twelfth of the origi- 
nal weight of the body. The cost, including 
the right to a niche for five j'ears, is from ten 
to fifty dollars. 

The Cemetery of Montmartre^ or CimQtiere 
du JVord, lies above the city upon the hill of 
that name so famous in the annals of Paris. It 
is much smaller than Lachaise, but has many 
interesting features. Just aside from the main 
entrance are four tombs containing the remains 
of seventy Polish refugees, the first tomb bear- 
ing the inscription in Latin, "May an avenger 
one day spring from our ashes.'' Horace Ver- 
net and Paul Delaroche are buried here, also 
Ary Scheffer, Eenan, Heinrich Heine, Carlotta 
Patti, Samson, the actor, Theophile Gautier, 
and many others of fame. Oce of the inscrip- 
tions on the latter's tomb, runs something after 
this fashion : 

''The bird departs, the leaflet falls. 
And Love has fled before the chill ; 

Thou little bird, when trees bud new, 
Above my grave, Oh! warble still." 

The Cemetery of Montparnasse, or the Cime- 
tiere du Sud, is much less beautiful and romantic 
in location than the two preceding. Here are 
buried the sculptor Eude and Henri Martin, the 
historian ; also Henri Gregoire, afterward Bishop 
of Blois, one of the first of the clergy to swear 
fealty to the new constitution in 1790. 



82 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Not far from the entrance, behind a small 
pyramid, is an enclosed space devoted to the 
graves of Sisters of Charity. Among these 
rests Sister Rosalie Rendu who was decorated by 
the Legion of Honor, in recognition of her de- 
voted services in the Crimea. 

There is a curious old structure at a consider- 
able distance toward the right of the principal 
avenue ; it is the tower of an old mill belonging 
to a convent of Freres de St. Jeon-de-Dieu. 
For some reason not ascertained by me, it has 
always been allowed to remain here in spite of 
incongruity. 

Two large monuments stand opposite each 
other in the newer part of the cemetery, one 
commemorating all soldiers who have died in 
defence of France, the other, all firemen who 
have perished in execution of their duties. 

In the little cemetery of Picpus are interred 
many of the oldest families of France. Here 
sleeps Lafayette, so dear to American hearts. 
At one end of the inclosure, are buried thirteen 
hundred victims of the Revolution who perished 
by the guillotine. Among these are the poet 
Andre Chenier, the chemist Lavoisier, General 
Beauharnais, and many others long known to 
fame. 

The Cemetery of Passy, situated in the lofty 
and beautiful suburb of that name, is quite pe- 
culiar in location. One reaches it by means of 
a long flight of solid stone steps, broken into 
short lengths. Arriving at the top, one does 
not come directly into the cemetery but seems to 
have entered a different world, so sharp is the 
contrast between the little streets of tiny, pic- 
turesque homes upon the hill, and the broad, 
imposing avenues of stately mansions one has 
just left below. One soon turns in at the right 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 83 

and enters the quiet and lovely little city of the 
dead, where are many fine monuments. 

Here just beyond the entrance, is the mauso- 
leum of the gifted and erratic Marie Bashkirtseff, 
which was designed by Emile Bastien-Lepage. 
An exterior of pale marble is covered with florid 
ornamentation of various sorts, scattered flowers, 
wreaths, butterflies, draperies and so forth. 
Upon one fagade are graven two stanzas, one 
from Andre Theuriet, the other from E, Ducross. 
The interior is a pleasant chamber perhaps 
twelve feet square, illuminated by large stained- 
glass windows and a glass door covered wnth 
metal grill-work through which one can see dis- 
tinctly all within. Here in the tempered light 
may be seen a life-sized bust of this young gen- 
ius whose earthly course was so brief. It stands 
upon a sort of altar whereon also rest her palette, 
her manuscript diary, a laurel wreath and other 
relics. One or two graceful chairs stand about 
and a cushion or so disposed here and there, 
with a guitar carelessly resting at one side, give 
an attractive, occupied seeming to the place 
and one almost looks to see the young girl enter 
to resume some one of the varied pursuits of her 
many-sided character. The structure is finished 
with a graceful dome, minarets rise from the 
four corners and a glittering metal cross sur- 
mounts the whole. 

In all the cemeteries that I have visited, 
I have noticed another marked difference in the 
way of decoration, between foreign taste and 
our own. Even in Pere Lachaise, so renowned 
for its sculptured marvels, where monuments of 
rare beauty testify to cultured taste as well as 
loving heart-', are to be seen hanging upon the 
sepulchers, huge garlands and wreaths of tin 
and iron beads fashioned and colored into a re- 



84 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

mote semblance of natural flowers. They fairly 
set one's teeth on edge. But there are others 
still more dreadful, of crockery, also intended to 
simulate floral offerings. 

The most appalling of all are great, solid circles, 
or rather, rings, their surfaces variegated with 
a faint suggestion of closely set petals, colored 
yellow, and perhap-5 supposed to represent im- 
mortelles ; as if they were not frightful enough 
of themselves, they are frequently converted into 
a veritable nightmare by being wrapped in isome 
coarse, thin, black stuff that probably does duty 
as crape. 

If these barbarous mementoes were to be seen 
only on humble graves, one might fancy that 
limited means had occasioned the use of a dur- 
able substitute for the perishable beauty of na- 
ural leaf and bloom, but as a matter of fact, I 
believe these set pieces are not inexpensive, and 
as before stated, they may be seen upon the 
most costly tombs. I must sny, however, that I 
saw this same incomprehensible style of decora- 
tion in the old cemeteries at New Orleans upon 
French tombs. How is it that the French, who 
have such a world-wide reputation for exquisite 
taste, should be able to find satisfaction in the 
use of these hideous objects? 

I notice in each of the different cemeteries 
here, at some prominent part of the grounds, a 
simple but beautiful monument reared "to the 
memory of all those who have no other monu- 
ment." This seems to me a tender and touching 
tribute, the like of which I have not observed at 
home. 



CHAPTER X, 



Go where one will, one seems ever to be in the 
great central midst of things. Everywhere one 
finds wide avenues and grand boulevards con- 
verging into spacious and beautiful Places or 
Itond-Ponts and filled with great throngs com- 
ing and going, and yet somehow there does not 
appear to be that everlasting rush and jostle 
that we notice in our own large cities. 

There are many beggars with their professional 
whine, and yet few compared to the population. 
Upon the steps and within the porticoes of the 
churches, particularly the antique and venerable 
ones, do the beggars specially congregate, often 
even within the edifice itself, having acquired a 
sort of right of old and established usage from 
time immemorial, to display there their infirmi- 
ties and deformities to the worshiping and sight- 
seeing multitudes. 

Some, perhaps, of those who desire alms ought 
not to be called beggars, as they profess to give 
something for one's money. It is somewhat 
surprising to see a man or woman, or both, sud- 
denly step out into the middle of a street and 
all at once lift up voice or voices in stentorian 
song, after which contributions are solicited. 

The most annoying class are the street ped- 
dlers ; they follow one for blocks, persi-siing in 
their importunities. It will not do to not'ce 
them by glnnce or word, even of courteous re- 
fusal, as they will then dog one indefinitely, ''ar- 
guing the case," hoping, I suppose, to weary 
one into purchasing. One may rid one's self of 

85 



86 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

them, I believe, by speaking to a gardien de 
la paix, but this seems rather heavy artillery to 
bring against the poor wretches, so one usually 
endures in silence. 

There is another sort of street-vender who is 
not to be classed with the peddlers for he is an in- 
stitution by himself. Hema^^ have garden pro- 
duce for sale, he may be an "old-ciothes-man" 
or a dog-barber, but whatever he is, he does not 
pester one unnecessarily ; he, — or she, for per- 
haps it is a woman, and if so, bare-headed — be- 
takes him down through the center of the street, 
pushing before him his goods or his tools, while 
ever and again he gives vent to a most peculiar 
refrain consisting of a few set notes that ring 
out high and strident, yet not without a certain 
melody, above the conglomerated noises of the 
busy thoroughfare. It is impossible to know 
what he says; he has a patoia of his own. If, 
from the looks of his wares, you desire his atten- 
tion, he serves you at once politely,but he impor- 
tunes nobody and goes on his way still warb- 
ling. 

One is constantly meeting in the streets, long 
lines of boys and girls of all ages, being escorted 
to and from their respective schools by their 
teachers. I am told that during the first few 
years of childhood, the sexes are educated to- 
gether in governmental schools. A little later a 
division is effected and w^omen are appointed to 
teach the girls while the boys are put under the 
charge of men, always, I believe of some clerical 
order. Still later the girls finish their educa- 
tion in the convents while the boys are sent to 
the universities. It looks odd to see these pro- 
cessions of tall youths filing by, carefully con- 
ducted and watched over by half a dozen or so 
priestly attendants, as if the lads were incapa- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 87 

ble of walking unharmed abont the streets alone. 
In their times of play, unless in the public gar- 
dens, both lads and lassies are hidden by the 
high, opaque walls of their respective schools 
or homes, such a thing as a "door-yard" open to 
the public gaze, being unknown in Paris. 

Shop-boys have a fashion of bearing surpris- 
ing burdens on their heads, like our southern 
negroes. At a corner of two principal boule- 
vards, amid all the elbowing and confusion of a 
densely packed crowd that had gathered to watch 
a carnival parade,! saw a baker's boy making his 
way unconcernedly across the street, hands 
thrust in pockets and upon his head a basket of 
delicate pastries about which he seemed to have 
no consciousness whatever. When he came to a 
more than usually impenetrable part, he would 
calmly demand : "Is it that I may pass?" and 
somehow pass he did with his burden unharmed. 
Sometimes you may see one with perhaps a load 
of eggs or fresh butter upon his cranium, yet 
walking on and reading a newspaper with sub- 
lime indiiference as to the perishable nature of 
his burden. Or, maybe one with basket of 
snowy linen will stop to watch a game or possi- 
bly indulge in a few rounds himself, without in- 
jury to himself or his charge. 

Bread seems sometimes regarded as a literal as 
well as metaphorical "staff of life." Often you 
may see a young fellow going along with a yard 
ortwoof this comestible in his hand, swinging 
it like a cane ; or a woman will be coming down 
the street with a like thin, long roll clasped in 
her arms ; or you may see it leaning against a 
doorway waiting to be taken in ; or two little 
children will be skipping along, each bearing 
one end of it, like a stick of wood. 

Another thing that has surprised me some- 



88 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

what, is the size of the average French woman's 
foot. There is no difficulty in getting a know- 
ledge of it, for the ladies of Paris hold their 
skirts at a remarkable elevation from the pave- 
ment, and the fact is thereby revealed that in- 
stead of posessing, as I had fancied from read- 
ing, tiny, dainty pedal extremities, they as a 
rule have noticeably generous, substantial "un- 
derstandings." American shoes are considered 
far superior to all others and are advertised ac- 
cordingly. 

Ladies and gentlemen walking together usually 
lock arms even by day, reminding one of pic- 
tures in old editions of Dickens and Thackeray. 
I am told that this is generally customary on 
this side of the water. Very often, too, both 
ladies and gentlemen, forsaking the foot-pave- 
ments, betake themselves to the middle of the 
street, down which they walk nonchalantly, evi- 
dently deeming their right of way equal to that 
of horsemen and vehicles. 

Just now the shop-windows are full of curious 
cartoons anent the first of April, though instead 
of stigmatizing a gullible idiot, as we do, an 
"April Fool," they here depict him or her as 
imposed upon by a fish. I have wondered 
whether our term "fish story", might trace its 
origin to this custom. 

The large magasins, or department stores, of 
Paris are interesting institutions. Besides their 
wondrous displays of art and fashion in infi- 
nite variety, many things in their arrangement 
and management are peculiar. The Bon iMarche 
— pronounced "Bdw Marshy" with a strong na- 
sal twang, — in the Rue de Bac. covers a large 
square and is, perhaps, a model of its kind. Its 
employes are boarded at the place, with which 
are connected dining room, kitchen and other 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 89 

domestic offices. Four repasts, I understand, 
are served each, day, of excellent quality. A fine 
and spacious reading-room made beautiful by 
artistic decoration, painting, plants and bric-a- 
brac, is provided with stationery, current jour- 
nals and periodicals for the benefit of shoppers. 

There are no fixed seats at the counters, as 
with us ; if a customer is given a chair it is 
either as a special courtesy or on a special occa- 
sion. There are no cash-carriers of any kind, 
animate or automatic ; each purchaser must ac- 
company the clerk who has served one to the 
bureau of that special department, where one 
paj'-s for and receives one's goods. Thjs en- 
tails considerable extra walking and every step 
counts on the extremely slippery, hard-wood 
floors, but the custom does away in a great de- 
gree with the long waits necessary incur stores, 
during which, as the jokers have it, one grows 
gray and tottering before receiving one's 
change. 

There is always at least one functionary in 
these great emporiums who "spiks Ingliss," 
though it may be fearfully and wonderfully 
made. 

The demeanor of the employes in general is 
an improvement on that of many of our"sales-la- 
dies and. gentlemen" at home. One is not pet- 
rified by a stony stare if one desires merely to 
look at a display of the wares without imme- 
diate purchase, nor is one annihilated by glances 
of ineffable disdain if one ventures to ask for a 
less expensive article than that shown; on the 
contrary one is treated with much deference 
and the right to inspect freely and to suit one's 
purse in buying, is conceded as a matter of 
course. 

I notice in Paris an odd method of street-wa- 



90 ONE WOMAN WANDEBING 

tering, calculated however for limited areas, the 
like of which I have never seen in America. The 
apparatus consists of several lengths of iron pipe, 
each of about ten feet and mounted at each end 
on little cross-pieces that in turn have at each 
end a small iron ball revolving in a socket and 
resting on the pavement; the pipes are connected 
by very short lengths of flexible, rubber hose. 

A man in charge rolls this apparatus into the 
street, fits one end to an aperture in the pave- 
ment communicating with the water-supply, 
puts a nozzle on the other end and straightway 
he is enabled to wet down a considerable space 
with very little trouble. There are watering 
carts too, of course ; queer looking affairs like 
boxes, about three feet high and four long, 
mounted on two great wheels like a dumping- 
cart. 

A large number of horseless carriages of var- 
ious styles and sizes, and calculated to carry 
from one to half a dozen persons, may be seen 
running all about through the streets of Paris. 
I have also seen a three-wheeled affair resem- 
bling a bicycle. The rider of this machine does 
no pedaling and seemingly has no care what- 
ever except to direct his course by means of the 
handle-bars. I have never seen these elsewhere 
and they are more terrifying to me than all the 
'buses and trams together, for one never knows 
when they may whizz across one's path, as they 
are confined to no set tracks, like the trams and 
are heralded by no beat of horses' feet, like the 
'buses. They speed over the pavements, swift 
and silent, the only warning one has of their ap- 
proach being a shrill, little "toot" which one 
thinks, if one notes it at all, is produced by some 
small boy's tin trumpet. I believe the motive 
power is petroleum. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



91 



It strikes me that the Parisians are great 
sleepers. It may be *because they live so fast 
that they are obliged to take "forty winks" 
whenever they can; at any rate they seem to 
sleep everywhere. On the benches, in the gar- 
dens, in the galleries, the museum, the omni- 
buses, even in the cafes with their glasses before 
them, you may see men and women too, sitting 
bolt upright and wrapped in placid slumber. 
The news-dealer slumbers at his stand ;the boot- 
cleaner slumbers at his post; the cabman slum- 
bers on his seat ; if you wish the latter's services 
you must waken him ; if you make a round of 
calls you will find him relapsed into slumber 
between each one and you will probably have to 
poke him up every time, before you resume your 
drive. 

One can apparently never exhaust the odd 
spectacles one is continually meeting in a prom- 
enade. Fancy defunct porkers and lifeless 
mutton-legs gayly garnished with artificial 
flowers ; or a plucked fowl tricked out with 
strings of red berries around its neck and'-drum- 
sticks;"or a salt cod-fish tastefully decorated 
with sprays of green. There is a great display 
in the open street of all sorts of wares, from 
eggs to engravings ; many things to the United 
States mind, calling imperatively for an An- 
thony Comstock to rise up in righteous wrath 
and sweep them from off the face of the globe. 
There is always an interested and critical throng 
about these varied exhibitions and I believe the 
art of window-dressing reaches its height in 
Paris. 

Many of the streets have most absurd names. 
Here are a few jotted down in my meanderings : 
"The Cat that Fishes," "September Fourth," 
"July Twenty Ninth," "Good Children," 



92 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

"White Mantles," "The Step of a Mule," 
"White Horse," "Five Diamonds," "Scissors," 
"Comet, ""Equality, ""White Doctor, ""Hell," 
— for a fact, both a boulevard and a pa«sage are 
called by this name usually unmentionable to 
ears polite, — "High Pound, ""Iron Pot, "'-White 
Queen," Poor St. Julien," "Old Pigeon-Housn," 
and others quite as queer. But these are relics 
of olden times, whereof the precise significance 
has been forgotten. 

Equally singular and sometimes, to the 
Anglo-Saxon idea, verging on the profane, are 
the titles of some of the srhops, such as, — all 
translated, of course, — "The Mother of a F;im- 
ily," "The Good Devil," "God the Father," 
"The Chicken in the Pot,'' "The Devil's Four 
Quarters," "The Grace of God." This last is 
a dye-shop and were it in England or the United 
States one might try to evolve some connection 
between the "grace of God" and "dying" in one 
sense and so, by transference, to "dyeing" in 
another; but being in France, even this labored 
explanation is impossible. 

Though I gaze with admiration on the great, 
wide, modern thoroughfares with their marvel- 
ous display of architectural beauties, and rare 
as well as costly wares, yet I am really 
most fascinated by these same quaint, old streets 
and localities that are in the midst of, yet so far 
removed from, all our conceptions of life as we 
know it now. 

Imagine the state of society and of traffic that 
could exist among these narrow ways, little more 
than lanes, in many of which it would be impos- 
sible for one vehicle to pas* another. Naturally 
we infer that there were no vehicles to pass ; 
upon the backs of men and horses were trans- 
ported through the towns all the necessities of 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 93 

life. But can we go so far as to imagine all the 
carts, carriages and conveyances banished from 
the streets to-day, and the consequent hush and 
general stagnation that such a condition of 
things would imply ? Would life be worth living? 
And yet they lived, those people of the olden 
time, and did good deeds and brave and passed 
on that we might come after. 

I say little about the magnificent palaces, 
cathedrals, art-collections and other places of 
note in Paris, although there is scarcely a day 
in which I do not visit some of them. They are 
all well-known to fame and stand solidly on 
their own merits to which, or from which, I 
could add, or detract, nothing, even were it in- 
cumbent on me to try. But impressions of 
sights and sounds that attract the attention of 
a stranger in novel environment must be tinged 
more or less in every instance with his own indi- 
viduality and thus in a measure unlike all 
others, which is my excuse for rambling on. 

Many a day have I spent in the Palaces of the 
Louvre and the Luxembourg and numberless 
others, amid their wonderful treasures of mar- 
ble and canvas ; many an hour amid the cool, 
secluded shades of Notre Dame, St. Sulpi^e, St. 
Germain-des-Pres, the Madeleine, the Pantheon 
and others too numerous to name. 

Ah ! to think of the quiet feet which once 
pasbcd restlessly in and out of these vaulted 
aisles; the silent voices once lilted here in earn- 
est prayer and praise. All gone, but their 
places are not vacant. Still rush and throb the 
feet and hearts of surging humanity, ever com- 
ing, ever going ; still rise anew its vibrant voices 
in song and supplication. 

There is an antique, crumbling and moss- 
grown edifice standing in its own grounds at a 



94 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

corner of the bustling, modern boulevards, St. 
Michael and St. Germain. It is called Hotel de 
Cluny, (Hotel meaning private mansion,) nnd 
occupies the site of a Roman palace founded be- 
tween the years 292 and 306, A. D. 

Here in 360, Julian was proclaimed emperor. 
The old palace has long gone to ruin and the 
only part left to-day is the ancient Thermes or 
baths connected with it. The fact that the 
Friyidarium or cold-bath chamber, is sixty-five 
by thirty-seven and one half feet in area, and 
fifty-nine in height, indicites something of what 
must have been the imposing dimensions of the 
ancient structure. 

Above this chamber lay for many years, until 
1810, I believe, a garden, yet its weight and 
moisture did not affect the stone roof of the 
apartment lying below, — then all unsuspected, — 
so substantial is its masonry. Many antique 
pieces of sculpture more or less defaced are 
found here, one of G-reek marble representing 
the Emperor Julian himself, and a battered and 
disreputable old creature does he appear now, 
whatever he may have been in his prime. 

In 1310 the ruins came into the possession of 
the wealthy Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, the 
abbots of which caused to be erected in the fif- 
teenth and sixteenth centuries, the present Hotel 
de Cluny. 

This edifice, a remarkably fine specimen of 
late Gothic combined with Renaissance features, 
still exists and quaint enough it looks amid the 
surroundings of modern civilization. The es- 
tate became national property during the Revo- 
lution and in 1839 the Hotel de Cluny came into 
the possession of M. Alexander du Sommerard, 
a learned antiquarian. He died in 1842 and the 
property, together with the Thermes^ was pur- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 95 

chased by the government and thrown open to 
the public free of charge. By the way, Paris is 
remarkable for the numerous means of recrea- 
tion, instruction and culture which it furnishes 
gratuitously to both residents and strangers; 
and it is rare if even a nominal fee is asked for 
the care of one's umbrellas or canes when left, 
as they must be, with the door-keepers. 

The Hotel de Cluny contains a most valuable 
collection of mediaeval objects of art and indus- 
trial products to the number of more than eleven 
thousand. 

But what renders it supremely interesting to 
me is the fact that the somber old rooms with 
their low, timbered ceilings, black with time, 
their ponderous bat pricelessly beautiful fur- 
nishings, their deep, wide-mouthed fire-places 
mutely testifying of an epoch when France had 
logs to burn, and having classically ornate man- 
tels, their quaint windows set high from the 
floors and their dark antique decorations of a 
by-gone age, are left intact; and again I fall to 
wondering what s )rt of persons trod these floors, 
looked from these windows, loved and hoped 
and wept and died within these walls and 
whether they too mused upon the old fashions 
and queer customs of their predecessors. 

But the "silence" is"unbroken"and the"still- 
ness" gives "no token," for there are none left 
to answer, so I turn my thoughts from the things 
that were to the things that are. 

Among the many wonderful and quaintly 
interesting institutions of Paris, and yet one 
that is not always visited by the hasty tourist, 
is the Gobelins, the state-manufactory of that 
famous tapestry. The foundation of this man- 
ufactory, it is said, dates back as far as the 
time of Francis -1., but the product did not re- 



96 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ceive its present name until 1662, when the 
brothers Gobelin began its manufacture and pro- 
duced not only tapestry but all sorts of royal 
furniture. "From this period, "says one author- 
ity, ' dates the celebrity of the Gobelin tapes- 
tries, which are veritable works of art." 

They are now reserved entirely for the govern- 
ment, for the draping of public buildings or as 
presents from the state to foreign courts, to per- 
sons of exalted rank and the like, and are en- 
tirely withheld from the general market. 

It is amazing to watch the busy weavers, for 
they work from the wrong side and the beauti- 
ful, finished portions are turned toward the visi- 
tor as he passes along in front. A large copy of 
the design in progress hangs at one side out of 
the workman's sight, but the small part on 
which he is actually engaged is drawn in crayon 
on the stretched threads. Behind him is a full 
sized copy of the finished design, and a basket 
in front of him holds his wools, fourteen thous- 
and hues in all, each having twenty-four difl^erent 
shades. 

Copies of famous paintings are reproduced 
not only with faultless accuracy as to details, 
but are actually more beautiful than the origi- 
nals, on account of a softness and delicacy of 
tone wherein the colors blend with an im percep- 
tibility of shading that is truly surprising^ 
while there is no glitter or hardness of varnish 
to offend the eye. 

I was struck with the smallness and delicacy 
of the workmen's hands; at first as I saw them 
weaving in and out, the owners themselves be-^ 
ing invisible, I supposed t'lem the hands of 
women, but learned later that no women are em- 
ployed. 

An area of six square inches is the average 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



97 



daily task of each man. The loom does not es- 
pecially differ from the ordinary machine. It is 
impossible for the casual observer to estimate 
the degree of patience, skill and exactitude, re- 
quired in this work. Day after day these toilers 
sit here behind their looms, in silence and un- 
ceasing application, isolated from all visitors and 
almost from their kind, as the looms in front 
shut them off in a measure from their companions 
as well as from the public. 

The Gobelins also include the Savonnerie, a 
carpet-factory started in 1604, by Marie de 
Medicis, in what was originally a soap-factory, 
hence the name, and which was united to the 
Gobelins in 1826. 

The main building of the Gobelins^ which is 
very quaint and old, is situated in the Avenue 
cles Gobelins, and is surrounded by a high wall. 
A large gate at one side, near which stands a uni- 
formed attendant, is opened to the public on 
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. 

We enter an ancient little court with a tree 
or so at one side, and turning to the left come 
into the first of the exhibition rooms of which 
there are four, exclusive of the two work-shops, 
the staircases, the long corridor and the work- 
shop of the Savonnerie. On leaving this build- 
ing, we step out into a quaint winding way be- 
tween low, ancient, whitewashed structures, all 
within the iniilosure, until we come again into 
the little court, at the farther end of which we 
find the chapel attached to the place. 

This is indeed queer and old-timey. Its prin- 
cipal decorations are seventeenth century tapes- 
tries after paintings by Raphael. A portrait 
above the entrance is striking in its vivid life- 
likeness. 

I saw here something not included in any 



98 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

guide-book or list of remarkable objects, but 
which, while astonishing and unique, lelt in me 
no desire to ever again behold the like. I had 
noticed a figure in the ordinary garb of a lady, 
standing with back toward me before the medi- 
aeval altar, evidently consulting a hand-book. 
As I approached, this figure turned and ad- 
dressed to me a civil inquiry, and I earnestly 
hope that the amazement and horror that I felt 
while endeavoring to reply, were not depicted 
on my countenance, for the "lady" had a well- 
trimmed and luxuriant moustache, which curled 
gracefully about her mouth in the most approved 
fashion. Her manner did not betoken the least 
consciousness of anything unusual in her ap- 
pearance and, thanking me politely, (-he glided 
quietly away. 

Everywhere one goes one sees a continual 
washing and polishing of counter, window, floor 
and pavement. Men are scrubbing down the 
seats placed at intervals along the grand boule- 
vards, also giving the railings and arbors in the 
gardens a thorough rinsing. Even in the ceme- 
teries is seen on every hand the vigorous appli- 
cation of soap and water to both outside and in- 
side of tombs. This sounds strange, but the 
tombs here are almost invariably temples of 
greater or lesser size, entered with as little diffi- 
culty as an ordinary dwelling. A tomb will 
contain probably one or more windows of stained 
glass, an altar of some description, a painting 
or piece of sculpture, perhaps a seat or two ; in 
fact, there is almost as much variety in their 
interiors as in those of homes in general ; but I 
must confess it has a singular effect as one is 
passing along the quiet though not deserted 
avenues, to hear voices from within these tombs, 
no occupant being visible. One involuntarily 
recalls that dismal old hymn beginning: 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



99 



"Hark ! from the tombs a doleful sound, 
Mine ears attend the cry,'' 

thoufijh the "sound" is more practical and en- 
ergetic than "doleful," while the swish of 
brush and splash of water instantly banish all 
reflections of a supernatural tenor. 






CHAPTER XI. 

About this time J again change my quarters 
and I now find myself in a typical French met- 
ropolitan dwelling-house. The average citizen 
of Paris is housed in this fashion with accessor- 
ies more or less elegant, as his purse may jvar- 
rant. 

There are few streets in Paris in which the 
lower floors are not occupied by shops of 
some kind, but this where I now reside is one of 
the few that is given over to dwellings simply. 

About two blocks from my habitation the 
street converges into the beautiful Avimve de V 
Observatoire taken from the ancient palace- 
garden of the Luxembourg, a side en- 
trance to the remaining area of which, lies just 
around the corner from my present abode; while 
the spacious and busy boulevard of St. Michael 
runs along the other side of the garden and also 
converges into the Jtve/r^e de I Ohservatoire at 
the point mentioned above. 

There is no tram nor omnibus line on my 
street and, as one stands at the end and looks 
along its length, it has an appearance of quiet- 
ude almost deathly. But this quiet street has 
had some famous residents and stirring scenes 
in its time. Here Emile Littre compiled his 
great work, the Dictionary of the French Lan- 
guage^ while living at No. 108; it was then 
called No. 48, Rue de VOiiest. Littre himself 
has described the house as one from which the 
Communists fired upon the Versailles troops dur- 
ing three days. Littre died at No. 44. No. 76 

100 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING lOl 

has a tablet inscribed : Here lived Jules Michelet, 
the hii-torian, born at Paris, August 22, 1798, 
died at Hyerts (Var) February 9, 1874. No. 14 
was long the residence of Pierre Jean David, 
the sculptor, called David of Angers, to distin- 
guish him from Louis David the painter. At 
No 84 lived the painter Jerome Marie Langlois, 
a pupil of David the painter. 

The buildings in this street look more like 
warehouses, factories, or even prisons than 
homes, for they stand flush with the pavements, 
having no areas, railings or outside steps, as 
with us, and across the lower windows is usually 
some kind of an iron grating. 

The houses are all of a smooth, cream-colored 
stone and are commonly faced up two or three 
feet with another stone of dark gray, rather 
somber in effect. A large double-do -r like a 
warehouse-entrance, on a level with the street, 
gives ingress to each ; and whatever of loveliness 
or luxury there may appertain to these homes, 
is hidden from public view behind these doors. 

Leaving the general for the particular, 1 ring 
the street-bellof my present domicile, whereupon 
I am admitted by the concierge. I cross the 
threshold and find myself in a lofty passage or 
vestibule, perhaps twenty feet broad, neatly 
paved, and having smooth stone walls finished 
off in pure white. The ceiling is ornamented 
with panels in low relief and supported by eight, 
symmetrical, snowy pillars. The cream-colored 
stone ifloor is cut in a decorative pattern and on 
each side run four wide, shallow, stone steps 
extending the whole length of the passage. On 
the left side are two double-doors with upper 
halves of plate-glass; the first opens into the 
quarters of the concierye, for no Fiench family 
ever lives on the ground floor of such a building. 



102 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

unless attached to its service. The other door 
has upon it in gilt letters the name of an Agency, 
and I presume leads to an office. These doors 
are joined to each other and to the two end walls 
by large windows, also of plate-glass. On the 
right hand is but one door also double and 
glassed, on each side of which is a handsome 
pedestal about three feet high, upon wiiich 
stands a beautiful, large porcelain lamp of ex- 
quisite design, looking like some rare vase. 
Spread along the steps at each side, are soft, 
bright rugs, very clean. Within the right h^nd 
door one sees a fine mosaic pavement and alight, 
ornamental staircase seemingly constructed 
chiefly of glittering brass; this winds up and 
away into regions unknown to me, as my w^ay 
lies farther on ; I may say, however, that each 
floor is a separate flat. 

I imagine that the lot of a Paris postman "is 
not a happy one." True he does not have to 
mount all these stairs and visit all these flats, 
for the outer concierge takes charge of all the 
mail or parcels coming into the building, which 
by the way has but one number for all its many 
divisions ; as for instance in this place we are 
all "No. 70," though there must be as many as 
a dozen families in the house. But though the 
concierge thus far relieves the postman, the lat- 
ter must still be on the alert, for mails are de- 
livered here not only in the daytime on week- 
days, but also in the evenings and on Sunday. 
The postman wears a dark blue uniform and his 
mail is carried in a shallow, square box of many 
compartments and is suspended horizontally in 
front of the man by means of straps from 
the shoulders. Stamps, aside from at the post- 
offices, may be purchased of the tobacconists. 
Tobacco being a governmental product and un- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



103 



der its protection, a license is necessary for the 
sale of the weed, and with this is given the right 
to sell stamps. 

But 1 have not yet reached my apartment. 
At the farther end of the vestibule is another 
large double-door, of stained gla!?s. This has 
no bell nor lock, so I turn the handle and step 
into a large, open court perhaps fifty feet square. 
I use the term, open, in the sense of having no 
roof; it is, however, fully inclosed otherwise by 
the four inner walls of the building, six stories 
high besides the attic. The edifice is, in fact, 
built around this court, so that the latter is shut 
ofi' from the street and all other outside com- 
munication, by, in effect, a lofty barrier two 
rooms deep on all sides. 

The court is paved with ornamentally cut 
stone; in the center, elevated by one or two very 
broad shallow steps, is a curbing of fanciful de- 
sign perhaps twenty by twenty-five feet in dimen- 
sions, which is filhd with ear h and set out in 
flowers and shrubs. This plot, by the way, is 
called a "garden." 

The main apartments of the structure face 
this court, and six rows of windows, besides the 
dormer windows of the attic, look down upon it 
and receive no more air and light than may en- 
ter from above. In this respect the higher flats 
are the more favort d ;residingin the lower ones is 
something like living witliin a deep well. 

Across the court from the entrance is still 
another double-door, half glass like the others, 
before which are more wide, light-stone steps 
and more bright clean rugs. Pulling another 
bell, I evoke another concierge who admits me 
into a hall about twelve feet wide. Another 
floor cut out in patterns, this time of marble, and 
covered with a soft rug through the center Jeads, 



104 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

to another staircase opposite. This stairway is 
of polished hardwood, but mercifully to the an- 
kles, a carpet is laid in the middle. 

Each landing is lighted by a large window of 
stained glass. Through these when open, may 
be seen the tiniest imaginable ppace of greenery, 
a shrub or two, and a high, iron fence, immedi- 
ately on the other side of which rise the grim- 
looking walls of a great convent which, facing 
the other way, shuts us oif from the street be- 
hind us. 

I walk up the last mentioned stairs, turning 
at the half-way landing, and find myself on the 
first floor, (foreign reckoning,) where I am ad- 
mitted by the bonne and go down the hall to my 
room, for I have at last reached the particular 
flat in which, for the time being, I dwell When 
ensconced here, there are betweem me and the 
public street, three solid walls, (for my room 
faces the court on the further side, ) one single 
and four double-doors. It is quite a proceeding 
to really get outside, and in the case of those who 
dwell in the upper stories, it becomes a pilgrim- 
age, as elevators are unconceived of. I wonder 
if all this difficulty of access, all this getting 
away as far as possible from the public gaze, 
arose from the necessity in ancient, rude and 
war like times, of placing the family, usually 
tender and helpless, as distant as possible from 
outside attacks. 

It is ditti 'ult in viewing the Paris of to-day, 
t') realize its tumultuous and terrible p.ist. The 
scenes of violence, bloodshed and destruction 
have, almost, without exception, been so com- 
pletely transformed and beautified that one 
niupt turn to the pa^es of history to find evi- 
dence that affairs have ever been other than as 
now. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



105 



But there is one stately ruin standing to-day 
in what is known as the Aristocratic Quarter 
that testifies silently yet powerfully to a season 
of terror not very far removed from the present 
time. 

This is the Palais d^Orsay, built in 1810-35 
and latterly used by the Conseil cfEtat and the 
Cour des Comptes. 

In the dark days of '71, this palace was fired 
by the Oommunards, and to-day the lofty exter- 
ior walls, still standing in spite of their terrible 
ordeal, are all that is left to witness to the 
grandeur and dignity of the once magnificent 
structure. It is an imposing edifice even now, 
covering the area bounded by the Quay d' Ort<ay, 
and the streets of Lille, Poitiers and Bellechasse, 
but the interior is completely gutted; chaotic 
heaps of broken masonry here and there, while 
suggesting something of the outline and dimen- 
sions of grand salon and gallery, yet preserve no 
indication of the former elegance and beauty of 
design and decoration. All is silence now 
within its roofless chambers into which the sun- 
shine and the rain of heaven alike fall pitilessly, 
while vines and shrubs look out of the empty 
window-spaces. 

The public gardens of Paris are beginning to 
appear very lovely now with wealth of leaf and 
bud. Not a great profusion as yet but enough 
to brighten and ornament the scene. 

In all these numberless beautiful gardens be- 
longing to the municipality, laid out with skill 
and art and embellished with statues, pondu, 
fountains, and flowers, the children have full 
sway and are alioved to run, romp, roll and dis- 
port themsalves altogether as they see fit. Some 
of the gardens are ot modern origin; others date 
back several hundred } ears and have seen dynas- 



106 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ties rise and fall ; but whatever they are, they 
are open from moruing until night, for the 
special benefit of the rising generation. 

It gives much food for meditation to stroll 
through the ancient palace-gardens such as those 
of the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Palais lioyale 
the Luxumbovirg, Versailles and the like, all plan- 
ned and perfected by a corrupt and selfish roy- 
alty for its own exclusive enjoyment, and to mark 
the freedom with which all classes of people 
(except indeed the very class of those ancient 
aristocrats themselves) now pervade for rest 
or recreation these once sacredly guarded pre- 
cincts : while their children, shouting from 
terrace or leafy nook, wake echoes once answer- 
ing only to the stir of a royal retinue ; or, racing 
down the winding avenues and around the mar- 
ble margins of plashing waters, do tread all un- 
abashed and unrebuked in the footsteps of 
ancient kings. 



CHAPTER XII. 

I left Paris one mild morning in a drizzling 
rain^ so that my last view of her avenues and 
vistas was as through a mist of tears. 

Not at all, however, did I regret leaving this 
wondrous city, the magnificence and beauty of 
which are so indescribable, but whose spacious 
areas and splendid structures seem somehow de- 
signed merely for external display, with little 
thought throughout those broad stretches, of 
the inner domesticity and cosy hominess so 
dear to less excitable if also less brilliant peo- 
ples. 

Parisians as a rule seem to live in public and 
to seek home only for reasons somewhat similar 
to that influencing the too convivial gentleman 
who went home at four o'clock in the morning, 
"because all the other places were shut up." 

I shall not soon forget the extreme surprise 
and volubly expressed amazement of both mis- 
tress and maids at my pension, when occasion- 
ally, wearied out by incessant promenading and 
sight-seeing, I elected to pass the day quietly in 
my own room. 

"What! Madame has not gone out? But 
surely, Madame goes out presently? Madame 
does not stay with herself all the day. That 
understands itself without saying!" 

Thus the women of the household ; and no one 
of them, mistress or servant, seemed to be able 
to approach that point of view wherefrom it 
might appear reasonable or satisfactory to re- 
frain from making a sortie into the outer world. 

107 



108 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

This seems the prevailing state of opinion; 
and perhaps it is not inexplicable why the seclu- 
sion of the domestic hearth is not so prized by 
this light-hearted, emotional folk, as by some 
other nationalities. 

In the first place, the "domestic hearth" 
scarcely exists even as a figure of speech. The 
homes in general, as nott d before, are damp 
and, to the American, dark and somewhat dis- 
mal. Fuel is expensive and brought in only in 
small quantities. Such a thing as keeping up 
a continual fire for general warmth is almost 
unknown. 

As soon as a meal is prepared, the cooking 
fire is extinguished, while the small fire lit in 
the dining-room just before each meal, is care- 
fully raked out as soon as the meal is over. But 
the most surprising feature of it all is that the 
"native" does not seem chilly and, even while 
the American is shivering, opens doors and 
windows for fresh air. 

In a land of continual sunshine, like Italy or 
California, I can understand how persons get 
into a habit of going out of doors to keep warm ; 
but in Paris where there is so much chill rain 
and often quite protracted spells of really cold 
weather, it is incomprehensible to me that they 
should not, unless in poverty, strive to be a little 
copier at home. 

Of course sun and light are not so easily ob- 
tained as artificial warmth might be. The liv- 
ing-rooms, looking out as they usually do upon 
high, closed courts that shut off mvich of what 
sunlight might otherwise shine directly in at 
the windows, are often in the shadow all day 
long, which does not add to their cheeriness, 
nor can their occupants command any view of 
what is going on in the outside world. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 109 

Then the French custom of breaking fast in 
the morning with a bit of bread and a draught 
of coffee taken alone, either in bed or during the 
toilet, does away with the pleasant and hospit- 
able reunion around the breakfast table, which 
our own countrymen so highly prize ; and the 
average Frenchman hurries out into the street 
as soon as may be, for warmth and society. 
What wonder then that the brilliantly lighted 
restaurants and the wide, clean avenues with 
their constantly shifting throngs of gay comers 
and goers, should seem most attractive to these 
volatile people, especially here where they have 
made their city with very little exception, the 
most splendid and beautiful in the world. 

But now it was behind me and I was soon 
speeding over a green and fertile country and 
through thrifty, picturesque towns. 

1 could not but note the difference between 
the United States and France, in the degree of 
care taken to reduce to a minimum the danger of 
railway accidents. Everywhere was the ap- 
proach to a station most carefully guarded. 
Nowhere did a railway and a country-road cross 
at the same level; either by a strong bridge or a 
well-walied excavation did the train pass over 
or under the wagon ways; and throughout the 
whole course, the tracks were laid between earth 
trenches well protected by thickly growing 
hedge or solid mason-work, so that by no pos- 
sibility could any creature, biped or quadruped, 
find itself upon the rails unguarded. Recalling 
the manner in which our trains at home dash 
through crowded cities and out across the open, 
utterly unprotected country, I could not but 
feel that we might learn much in regard to the 
proper care and preservation of life, even from 
these same "volatile" Frenchmen. 



110 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

There is not much in the scenery along this 
"Road of Iron of the East," to keep one's atten- 
tion as we journey on hour after hour with the 
rain still gently falling. We pass through an 
undulating country well watered with noble 
streams and fair with verdant fields. There is 
little to remind an American that one is in a 
foreign land, except perhaps the sight of peasant 
women of all ages toiling on the fermes at the 
most menial of out-door tasks, the extreme tidi- 
ness and "finish" of homes and gardens, and 
the dramatic vivacity of the alien tongue at the 
stations. 

I soon turned my attention to the interior of 
my carriage. For the first time I now found 
myself in a second-class compartment and I 
looked curiously about to see what manner of 
place it might be. It certainly was not luxur- 
ious but was very comfortable. As in most con- 
tinental carriages, it opened at each side by a 
door into a narrow lane running between two 
rows of seats facing each other, each row accom- 
modating five ph.ssengers with barely room for 
opposing knees and feet. Light was admitted 
by small windows at each end of the two rows 
of seats and through the glass upper half of the 
two doors. Window-curtains of some coarse, 
dark-blue worsted stufi'; walls and ceilings being 
covered with the same ; the former being padded 
up three or four feet to form backs for the 
seats, which were cushioned in the same dark- 
blue. 

There were no means of heating the place nor 
any provision for artificial light; no opportunity 
for moving about nor, if the compartment were 
filled, of changing one's position; no toilet 
conveniences of the s-implest description and no 
way of getting out until released by the garde. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 111 

For several hours I traveled on alone and un- 
disturbed. I had paid a man an extra franc to 
put me into a carriage but had not thought to 
stipulate for a "non-smoker;" in compartments 
not labeled thus, smoking is permitted if no 
occupant objects, with the exception of the 
places reserved for ladies alone ; there are also 
still other compartments labeled "Smokers," 
where one must not demur at smoking if one 
takes a place there. During the course of the 
day, ladies and children came and went, but no 
one wished to smoke until late in the afternoon 
when my solitude was invaded by eight men, 
evidently commercial travelers, one of whom 
politely inquired if his smoking would be offen- 
sive to me ; I replied literally that it would not, 
but when, without further inquiry, the remain- 
ing seven also produced cigars and began vigor- 
ously puffing the same, I did feel that I had 
fallen a victim to my good-nature. But after an 
hour or two, these gentlemen departed as they 
had come, in a body, and I was left again in 
solitude. 

And what a solitude it is. Not a sound but 
the steadily rolling wheels and the occasional 
high, thin "toot" of the whistle, which is some- 
thing entirely different from the ear-splitting 
shriek of our engines in America. No possible 
way of communicating with any human beings 
between stations. In fact, a prisoner in solitary 
confinement am I, only to be let out at the dis- 
cretion of the guard. I cannot call him "con- 
ductor," he is so utterly unlike anyone we 
recognize under that title. He seems to have the 
vaguest idea of anything one would suppose to 
belong properly to his province ; exhibits the 
greatest indifference as to one's tickets; indeed, 
on mine is a printed request that the ^'■voya- 



112 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

^ei<r"will see personally that"the right coupon is 
detached at the right place!" He never gives 
any information as to necessary change of trains 
or other details, unless specially importuned, 
and even then his replies are unreliable and 
persons are left to find their way about as their 
intuition suggests. All this is rather hard on 
strangers in a strange land and of a strange 
tongue. 

However I cannot help feeling sorry for the 
guard, he looks so forlorn, as he runs along in 
the rain outside the carriages, first on one side 
and then on the other, now and then casually 
mentioning the name of the station as he trots 
down the line. He does not look in at the win- 
dows and one would not suppose from his de- 
meanor, that the travelers had the least interest 
in the matter. Then he disappears. I have yet 
to learn what becomes of him between stations. 

What a contrast to our brazen-lunged train- 
men of stentorian tones. Can my "lone sister" 
imagine anyhow, a train with no brakemen, no 
pop-corn and gum fiend, no time-card, no lit- 
erature, no ice-water, "no nothing," so to 
speak? 

About this time, I gather from sights and 
sounds at a station we approach, that there is 
some refreshment to be had. The guard re-ap- 
pears and unlocks my door ; I question him and 
find that I am not in error. I step out, (the 
carriages abroad are almost invariably on a 
level with the platforms, so there is no climbing 
up and down) and follow the crowd into a long 
room filled with ?mall tallies. I have a cup of 
coffee with milk and sugar and a roll with but- 
ter, — I mention items because each is cliarged 
for separately, butter, milk and sugar not being 
matters of course, as with us, — for which I pay 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



113 



about ten cents, United States, and start to go 
back, but now to my astonishment I find I can- 
not get out. I naturally had returned to the 
door by which I entered, but find that locked 
and exit cut off. Then on diligent inquiry, I 
am directed hither and thither, through narrow 
passages, in at this door and out at that, until 
finally after a tortuous way, I emerge with be- 
wildered brain, at a totally different point from 
that at which I had entered the building. 

Two or three ladies now join me in my com- 
partment and from their conversation, (which I 
must of necessity hear, there being no privacy 
in these carriages,) I learn that at the next sta- 
tion we reach the Belgian frontier, where our 
luggage must be examined. 

I am very glad to be thus forewarned, other- 
wise I should have been sorely dismayed at the 
sudden invasion of our carriage as it comes to a 
halt, by two or three excited men who seize our 
hand-luggage and rush off with it. We follow, 
though the men have vanished; we make our 
way into a large room where everyone must 
claim liis or her possessions, produce keys and 
submit to the inspection. 

There are two points to be considered ; duti- 
able articles and overweight of permissible com- 
modities. It is a little odd that one may have 
as much hand-luggage as one can get into 
his compartment, with no extra charge, but on 
all that goes into the luggage-van, one must 
pay extra in France for anything over sixty 
pounds, in Germany all over fifty-five pounds, 
and in Belgium for every pound. These regu- 
lations and the usually short distances from 
one frontier to another, necessitate a continual 
opening, weighing and re-weighing of trunks, 
baskets and boxes, most tedious to experience, 



114 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

as everybody must go personally to attend to 
the matter. But there is no hurry. Every- 
one seems to have plenty of time and at last it is 
over once more. Here again we find ourselves 
locked in: after many efforts I discover that 
the exit is at the opposite side from the en- 
trance, and as before, in an entirely different 
part of the building, but after turning here and 
there through more doors, we come into a large 
waiting-room which we are directed to cross 
and finally are permitted to come into the open 
air, when we all trail back again to our place?, 
fee our porters and set off once more. 

And now we enter Belgium. No beauty is 
there to be seen here along the line of the 
railway. Occasionally a few grim, sterile look- 
ing hills and now and then a fine river, but the 
country is mostly flat and uninteresting and 
black with its numerous coal and iron works 
with all their unlovely products. We roll along 
with little variety until we have traversed the 
tiny country and reach the German outposts. It 
seems strange to reflect that I have crossed two 
countries and entered a third in a little more 
than half a day, when at home I have traveled 
day after day and night after night without 
ever getting outside the boundaries of the grand 
and glorious United States. A little "spread- 
eagle-ism" may perhaps be pardoned in one who, 
having been for several months remote from 
"Columbia, the getn of the ocean," begins to 
yearn for the freedom and progress of that 
"happy land." 

But here we are in Germany, another custom- 
house must be gone through, with another 
weighing of luggage, another set of porters to 
fee and another settling down to our places. 

I was startled at the sudden contrast of the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 115 

North German physique to that of the lean, 
wiry, little Frenchmen among whom I had been 
so long. The officials here were a wonderfully 
fine looking set of men with brilliant and hand- 
some uniforms. The station-masters, I learn, 
always wear a bright orange cap, so they are 
easily identified. One lordly creature in splen- 
did cap and bright green, braided costume con- 
descended to inspect my trunk. 

He stood on one side and I on the other of the 
long, low barrier that runs across all these bag- 
gage-rooms. He undid one strap and ordered, 
not requested me to undo the other; astonished, 
I complied. He then took hold of one end of 
the tray and ordered me to lift the other. 
Speechless with amazement, I obeyed. He then 
deigned to proceed without further mandates. I 
wondered afterward what would have happened 
had I refused to obey his commands, probably 
something equal to "battle, muider and sudden 
death," for in Germany man is indeed, "lord 
supreme," and unless yielding homage to rank 
and position, absolutely lacking, as a rule, in any 
of that deference that the genuine American, 
whatever his station, always pays to women, 
young or old, lovely or otherwise. I almost 
wished I had told the official to "do it himself." 
However, I was too much startled to "let my 
angry pas^sions rise" and did not, in fact, fully 
take in the extent of the man's — perhaps I should 
say "the gentleman-and-officer's — "rudenes-s until 
I was once more in my little compartment. 

I may add here for the benefit of my "solitary 
woman" the sum of information gleaned later 
by me on this point. The usage is that any 
woman, gentle or simple, unless having a servant 
of some kind, must wait upon herself the same 
as a man does ; though should it get whispered 



116 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

about that she is of high rank, she would receive 
servile attention. If one travels without a maid 
or man-servant, one may fee a porter to undo 
straps and other little jobs difficult for a woman to 
manage. but no service will be volunteered gratis 
nor should one ask it. One pays the porter what 
one pleases, from about two cents up; one would 
wish to be just and certainly not mean, but the 
veteran traveler never gives inordinate fees. 

Our progress was soon again interrupted, for 
at the next station we had to change trains with 
yet again the bother of claiming boxes, bags and 
bundles and feeing porters. But our change was a 
vast improvement on our situation. We were now 
on the governmental railway of Prussia and found 
that second-class cars in Germany are as good 
as, and more convenient than, first-class in 
France. 

This compartment held. places for six; the 
customary lane ran from side to side connecting 
opposite doors; the long, back seat was divided 
by movable arms into two of two places each; 
opposite was another double-seat facing, the oc- 
cupants of which must ride backward. 

In the space usually devoted to a continuation 
of this short seat, was a door leading into one 
of the tiniest lavatories, having the scantiest of 
furnishings. This opened also into the next 
compartment, one lavatory thus serving for two 
compartments. 

In each compartment a "Danger Brake" was 
fixed on one wall with a placard stating how and 
when it might be used and the j)enalties for mis- 
use. Another complicated arrangement was 
also provided, with directions for summoning 
help in the case of illness or aggression on the 
part of any of the passengers. There was an 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



117 



electric bell "for the use of ladies." There 
was aa apparatus by which, through moving a 
lever, the temperature could be changed from 
"cold" to "medium" or to "hot", though I am 
sure I should never dare to meddle with this or 
the others. As a farther provision for safety, 
the walls of the (compartment failed by a few 
inches to reach the ceiling, thus making it pos- 
sible for anyone, by standing upon a seat, to 
survey the interior of the next compartment and 
thus, I suppose, to cause any chance villain who 
might desire to injure his fellow-travelers, to 
realize that he was, theoretically, under surveil- 
lance, though I fear that, pract'cally, the ar- 
rangement would be of little avail. 

The seats were upholstered in corded velvet of 
a grayish brown, very soft and comfortable; 
foot-rug and curtains of the same hue; ceiling 
and walls decorated with a neat, cheerful paper; 
while a small lamp fixed in the center of the 
roof would provide enough light in an emergency 
"to make the darkness visible." 

One lady accompanied me in the change but 
after a few miles she also vanished and I was 
left journeying onward alone. 

The sun had now come out and the country 
looked very pleasing; not unlike the region of 
the United States through Wisconsin and Min- 
nesota; not quite so well-watered perhaps, but 
the aspect of things in general made it seem not 
at all incomprehensible that our North-German 
immigrants are able to settle down so contentedly 
among us in that section. 

The fir-t stage of my journey ends at Cologne 
and I step out toward evening at this city of 
fragrant associations. After many formalities, 
(which, however, need not disconcert the "lone 



118 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

female," even though she does not understand 
German, if she will keep calm and hold her 
ticket plainly visible,) I am safely inducted into 
a cab and soon am driving forth with wonder 
and interest through the streets of this historic 
town. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



I can hardly describe, much less account for, 
the comfortable feeling that took possession of 
me as soon as I began to mingle in German 
scenes and to come in contact with the German 
people. 

Somehow a sensation of confidence and "at- 
home-a-tive-ness" pervaded my mental being at 
once, of which I had not the slightest experience 
during all my sojourn in France. 

Possibly it may be attributed to the factth^t 
a resident of Wisconsin must necessarily be 
somewhat familiar with the German type, with 
its method of thought and with the sound of its 
language, and though both type and tongue are 
markedly modified with us, by the influence of 
American environment, yet th^ re is enough sim- 
ilarity in countenance and cadence here to make 
me feel that I am not among utter strangers. 
The rosy, rotund, blonde and bpaming gentlemen 
and the fair, friendly and amiable ladies whom 
I see all about, may be met in counterpart any 
day at home, while the fjimiliar rames I note 
everywhere intensify the home feeling. 

Then, as a general thing, the German is a well- 
balanced being. He does not fly off in a tangent 
of wild excitement on the slightest or no provo- 
cation. Neither does he seem to have a deep- 
rooted suspicion of all foreigners nor lay him 
self out at once to get the better of all such by 
sharp practices. He seems to assume that 
strangers mean to be fjtir and honorable in deal- 
ing with him, and he is willing to give them the 

119 



120 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

benefit of a doubt in all that he may not under- 
stand. 

Again, his, or perhaps I should say her, house- 
keeping is very like our own. The country is 
full of homes and restful places for the weary. 
Their couches and chairs are made for rest, their 
rooms are light and warm, (though they do not 
overheat them as the Americans do,) and their 
"front apartments" are not at the back, but 
survey the pleasant avenues and the tasteful 
gardens so arranged that their beauty may be 
enjo3'ed by passers-by. 

As with us, the family gathers at the break- 
fast table, though one does not find the variety 
at this meal that Americans expe3t; this 
however can generally be obtained by order- 
ing an "American breakfast," and paying 
extra for the added dishes. Two is the usual 
hour for dinner, seven for supper ; breakfast is 
a more movable feast ranging from half past 
seven to nine. As a result of this routine, I 
jDresume, banking hours are from nine to two 
and from five to seven. Tea and coffee are 
served at these meals much more commonly than 
in France, and without extra charge, though 
beer-drinking is universal and that of wine 
almost as much so; but our United States habit 
of ice-water drinking is incomprehensible to the 
German as well as most other foreigners; incon- 
sequence, the average United Statesian meets 
with considerable ridicule, generally good-na- 
tured, for his aqua-imbibing propensities; but 
usually unless very young or foreignized by long 
residence, he maintains his abstemiousness in 
this respect. This practice is a scource of sur- 
prise and even dismay to the friendlj^ foreigners 
one meets, and often, some kind-hearted persons 
would take an opportunity to remonstrate with 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



121 



me on account of what they deemed my perni- 
cious habit. "Why, you will certainly be ill," 
they would exclaim, "it is impossible to drink 
water habitually, without getting one's system 
out of order." "But I do it at home,"' I would 
reply. 

"Oh!" they would cry, "but you Americans 
have more typhoid fever than any other nation 
in the world." 

"But I never had typhoid fever in my life," 
I would rejoin. Still they w^ould not leave me 
to my fate. "Mark my words," they would 
add impressively, "you cannot do it here. Be 
warned in time. " 

But I persisted in imbibing the crystal fluid, 
though I will confess that at first, supposing 
some subtle danger might lurk therein, 1 strove 
to satisfy my thirst with wine and beer ; but very 
shortly decided that I would suffer illness if so 
it must be, rather than swallow the sour and 
bitter stuff that I sa\v consumed all about me 
with such relish. Then as I remained provok- 
ingly healthy, my companions would regard me 
with amazement; no doubt exclaiming, like the 
old-school phj^sician whose fever patient recov- 
ered after swallowing a strenuously forbidden 
pitcherful of ice-water : 

"Great Heavens, what a constitution !" 

But I was proud to find that with most for- 
eigners, the name of American, especially from 
the United States, was synonomous with tem- 
perance, if not total abstinence ; and by the w^ay, 
I was amused to note that "American" means a 
United States citizen, with the average native of 
the Old World. "Is so-and-so an American?" 
I would ask. 

'■'Oh, no! He is a Cantidian," would be the 
reply, or a Mexican, or whatever the case 
might be. 



122 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

"But Canada is in America," I would remark. 

"Oh ! is it?" many would rejoin ; while others, 
especially among the English, might say : "Oh, 
well! We never think of them as Americans." 

In Germany, coffee with light wafers or kucken 
is usually served at four o'clock and sometimes 
tea also, though the fashion of drinking the lat- 
ter in the middle of the afternoon, is an exotic 
from England, as it is in France and America. 
There is always a hearty welcome for a friend 
or stranger and the "house-mother" is seldom 
absent from her post, where she provides for th« 
comfort of all. One peculiarity at least, of so- 
cial etiquette in Germanj'^ surprises the foreigner, 
that is the requirement that the stranger shall 
make the advances toward acquaintance with res- 
idents, calling upon them for purposes of intro- 
duction. 

On my arrival in Cologne my first act was to 
refresh the inner woman, which I did with, 
among other things, the first cup of really good 
coffee that I had found since I left home, and 
the first butter that did not taste like whipped 
cream. 

My room was light, airy, clean and well-fur- 
nished, at a moderate charge; seventy-five cents 
a day, I believe, with fifteen cents additional 
for service, but no extra charge for heat and 
light ; tips ad libitum ; there was an exceedingly 
comfortable bed, though this is no rarity as 1 
found excellent beds everywhere. One never 
sees the large English double-bed in France or 
Germany, always single ; if the bed-room is in- 
tended for two persons, there are two beds. 

Of course in the hotels, linen is changed daily, as 
with us; but 1 was glad to find later in the j9e?i- 
sions, — for the Germans have adopted the French 
term, — that more liberal ideas are prevalent than 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



123 



in France, bed-linen being changed once in a 
fortnight, "Just as they do in England," to 
quote my German hostess; and as a week is only 
seven days as with us, there is consequently a 
diiFerence of ten days in the time one is expected 
to use one's slips and sheets. 

The Germans also have more advanced views 
in regard to towels, though bath-rooms are almost 
as rare as in France. But I will say for the 
pensions of both countries, that the linen and 
bedding furnished are of excellent quality, soft, 
fairly fine, ample and sweet smelling, and the 
room-fittings as a rule far surpass in quality and 
comfort, those provided at greater cost in our 
own country. This last clause applies also to 
the table, where usually much care is shown to 
appointments and serving though the list of 
dishes is much shorter. The housekeeping I 
find immaculate everywhere. But this is a di- 
gression. I return to my hotel. 

Wonder of wonders, there is here an elevator. 
As we use that term, while the English say 
"lift" and the French "ascender," (translated,) 
I was curious to know the German designation, 
so asked the lad at hand ; to my amusement he 
replied "riding-chair," (also translated.) 

The next morning I began my exploration of 
Cologne. It is a fine city and, as we all know, 
full of special interest. The "sweet waters" 
that have made its name a household word 
everywhere, are to be seen on sale on every side, 
in gayly decorated tiasks more or less elegant. 

The great cathedral attracts one's attention at 
once. Would that I could fully express the 
singular impression of extreme airiness, delicacy 
and elegance, conveyed by this wondrous struc- 
ture, which is at the same time so grand and 
imposing. Inapplicable as the word may seem 



124 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

to such a pile of stone, the epithet "lovely" im- 
mediatelj'^ rises to one's lips. 

The two twin towers reaching up so far away 
into the vault of heaven are a landmark foi' 
many and many a mile both up and down the 
Rhine, and far off over the hills and plains out 
from the city. 

Though the tallest towers in Europe, in fact, 
I believe the tallest of any structure in the 
world, they soar aloft with a marvelous grace 
which is exquisitely blended with an impressive 
majesty. 

One should ascend these towers not only for 
the far-sweeping view, but to look upon the 
great bells and to read the inscription upon the 
huge Kaiserylocke, which some one has trans- 
lated thus : 

"I am the Emperor's bell; 
The Emperor's praise I tell; 
On holy guard I stand. 
And for the German land 
Beseech that God may please 
To grant it peace and ease." 

The bells in the southern tower were hung 
ab(Hit the middle of fourteen hundred, and the 
enormous crane that did the work remained un- 
dii^turbed until 1868. 

Strange that the name of the original archi- 
tect of this marvelous crea'ion, should be lost 
in the mists of obscurity. It is ascribed by many, 
though,! believe, without sufficient corroboration, 
to Albertus Magnus; and Sven he is supposed to 
have been assisted by supernatural agents, the 
Virgin appearing to him in a dream with four 
canonized masons, Severus,Severinus, Carpopho- 
rus, and Victorinus, who sketched the plans in 
lines of fire. Awaking, Albertus hastened to 



ONE WOMAN WONDEEING 



125 



reproduce them, but refused to call them his 
own, ascribing them to the hand of God. 

Another legend, however, imputes this super- 
natural interference to a directly opposite power, 
and declares that the devil appeared to Gerhard, 
an ambitious young architect, and dared him 
to originate something more splendid than had 
yet been achieved; after attempting this in 
vain, unintentionally producing only copies of 
famous plans, he shouted angrily, "Do it your- 
self, then !" Whereat His Satanic Majesty did 
it, but at the price of Gerhard's soul; but just 
as he was about to sign the contract, he be- 
thought himself of a holy silver cross which he 
wore and, having the plans safe, he drew the 
cross forth and dared the devil to "come on." 

The baffled devil retired breathing fire and 
vengeance and vowing, "You will find, pre- 
sumptuous one, that it is unwise to be dishonest 
even with the devil Though you build the 
cathedral with my plans, your own name shall 
be forgotten forever." 

The earthly fate of this daring young archi- 
tect was peculiar ; for "while he did direct those 
that toiled," there opened "suddenly a great pit 
whereoutcame a great and loathly w^orm" which 
seized the poor man and. cracking his neck, 
drew him into the pit which then closed up and 
he was seen no more. In the south tower, upon 
two pillars of the west side, may be seen two 
ancient gargoyles said to be a "true likeness" 
of Gerhard and his faithful dog; the animal 
catching hold of his master's gown, strives to 
draw him back from the pit, but is engulfed 
with him. 

The moral of this legend is dubious, seeming 
to imply that it would have been better not to 
outwit the devil but to acquiesce in his schemes. 



126 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The only definite fact connected with the name 
of Gerhard is that he was tlie first superinten- 
dent of the building of the edifice. 

The history of this cathedral from the first 
inception of the sacred edifice in the mind of 
Hildebold in the beginning of the ninth century, 
down to the placing of the final copestone by 
Emperor William I,, in 1880, is most varied and 
exciting. 

Bombardment, conflagration, spoliation, de- 
struction and even murder are associated with 
the gradual, of ten intermitted, progress of this 
great and noble work, until now it stands pro- 
claiming, — to quote a royal patron and promoter 
of the sublime undertaking, — "to yet unborn 
generations, a Germany vv^hich, owing to the 
unity of its princes and people, is great and 
powerful, and bloodlessly compels peace among 
the nations of the world." 

Entering the magnificent structure at the 
main portal, I found another variety of the 
genus Suisse or beadle. This one wore a long, 
flowing robe of scarlet, finely ornamented in 
black, and on his head was a high cap or turban 
of black velvet. He carried a long rod of office 
and stood guard in the center of the great nave. 
He was, however, not so gloomily dignified as 
his French brother, strange to say, but seemed 
of an affable disposition and kindly whispered 
to us to "please keep still until mass was over." 

I had not known tilT then that a service was 
in progress, as the worshippers were in a far-off 
angle not readily visible from where we stood. 
They soon quietly dispersed and the visitors 
wandered about here and there, admiring and 
marveling. 

All I he proportions and decorations through- 
out are, of course, beautiful and magnificent to 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



127 



an unspeakable degree, but here, as in other 
instances, — though it goes to my heart to pass 
on without my best tribute to the ineffable 
loveliness and majestic sublimity that almost 
moves one to tears from very excess of emotion, — 
T only pause to mention something unusually 
quaint or antique which might possibly escape 
notice by one who were properly describing, as 
many have described already, the glory and 
grandeur of this and other famous wonders of 
art. 

To get at once a comprehensive view of the 
whole magnificent interior, one may ascend to a 
gallery in the eastern pillar of the south portal. 
In the north wall are some very odd, ancient, 
stained windows dating from the sixteenth cen- 
tury. In one of these appears the figure of the 
founder of Cologne, holding the standard of the 
city, while underneath is the inscription (freely 
translated) in that rhyming-couplet so dear to 
the German mind of the middle ages : 

"Marcus Agrippa, a Roman man, 
The Agrippa Colony first began." 

Opposite him is Marsilius with his little 
rhyme : 

"Marpylis proud, a heathen's son, 
Held Cologne and triumphs won." 

Queer neighbors they, the?e rude and warlike 
men, for the Holy Family, the Magi, the Saints 
George, Maurice and others who occupy the rest 
of the window. 

Below the organ is a wooden urn dating back 
to 1063, containing the remains of Queen Rich- 
eza of Poland. St. Peter's staff is one of the 
•curiosities here ; also an image of the Virgin, 
^'which," as an inscription testifies, "has worked 



128 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

many miracles :" here too are "the relics of the 
Magi," received in 1164 from the abbess of a 
Milan convent, and which rest beneath a marble 
monument of rare beauty in the Chapel of the 
Magi, the fourth chapel of the choir. 

The beautiful windows of the choir are the 
oldest in the cathedral, being of the twelfth 
century. Others equally beautiful are placed 
on the left of the nave and date from the fif- 
teenth. 

The right of the nave, however, has been 
fitted up with hideous specimens of modern 
achievement. They were probably expensive, as 
they were the gift of William of Prussia and 
Ludwig of Bavaria, but they compare with the 
others somewhat as a cheap chromo might with 
an ancient masterpiece of oil. 

The choir itself, so grandly and somberly 
magnificent, has seen many mutations during 
its completion. At one time houses were built 
all around it and where the nave should have 
been, and during the occupation of Napoleon 
First, the French used it as a forage storehouse. 

Opposite the Chapel of the Magi is a monu- 
ment in memory of Archbishop Dietrich von 
Moers, 1860, excessively ornate and consisting 
of several figures of most sacred personages, 
such as the Virgin, the Infant Jesus, St. Peter 
and others, who are represented as associating 
in the most intimate and friendly manner with 
the aforesaid bishop. There is an epitaph of 
the most fulsome praise, extoling Dietrich to a 
superlative degree, but unfortunately an unap- 
preciative and skeptical posterity unkindly 
declares that the bishop not only ordered the 
monument, but actually wrote the eulogy him- 
self. 

The seven chapels about the choir are filled 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 129 

with curious and costly objects of historic and 
artistic interest, but I must not stop for details. 
Archbishop Philip von Heinsburglies in a huge, 
battlemented tomb, thus signifying that he first 
fortified Cologne. 

A mighty figure in solid brass lying upon his 
tomb under a Gothic arch, represents the great 
Konrad. 

The greatest art-treasure in Cologne is the 
famous Domhild, or Cathredal-Picture, a trip- 
tych of Meister Wilhelm's, representing the 
Adoration of the Magi, and to the uninitiated, it 
would seem that it should be in the chapel of 
that name, but for reasons wise, no doubt, we 
find it in that of St. Michael, though formerly in 
St. Agnes' shrine. The central panel shows the 
Magi offering presents to the Child; their fol- 
lowers throng the background on the wings, St. 
Ursula and her maidens on the left, St. Gercon 
with warriors on the right ; on the outside of 
the wings, the Annunciation. 

The city of Cologne, as perhaps some "lone 
sister" may have forgotten, had its origin in a 
military colony (whence the name)placed hereby 
Marcus Agrippa fifty years before Christ, so it 
really was old before the first conception of even 
the predecessors of the cathedral was realized. 
Intensely interesting as is the narrative of the 
city's rise, progress, decline and later return to 
importance, or "boom," as we of the later day 
might term it, yet it is but one of the innumer- 
able, fascinating spots of this wondrous "Old 
World," to which no manner of justice can be 
done by the casual tourist, 

A weird reminiscence of former trying times 
is observed at St. Ursula, where are exhibited 
in glass cases what are said to be the skulls and 
bones of eleven thousand virgins who came with 



130 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

the holy Ui*sula, a British princess, to Cologne, 
where they suffered death as martyrs. St. 
Ursula's bones are deposited in a shrine in the 
sacristy which is also said to contain a curiosity 
catalogued as "one of the wine-jugs used at the 
marriage of Cana." These various bones are 
exhibited for a consideration and are truly a re- 
volting and piteous spectacle. 

Most of the streets of Cologne are narrow, 
with queer-looking houses, also narrow and of 
peculiar architecture. 

At a corner of JSTeu-Markt and Eichmodis 
streets, may be seen a building from the attic of 
which two wooden horses are looking out. Con- 
cerning these the legend runs thus : 

In fourteen hundred, when Cologne was terri- 
bly devastated by the plague, Richmodis, wife 
of knight Menges von Aduct, was one of the 
victims and was buried in the Apostles Church. 
Her wedding-ring was left upon her finger and 
the grave-diggers noticing the same, went the 
next night to steal it. 

They opened the grave and the coffin, but 
their rough attempts to remove the ring, roused 
her from the trance into which she had fallen; 
she started up, frightening away the thieves, and 
ran back to her home where she knocked for 
admittance. 

The servants alarmed ran to their master. 
He went to the door and demanded who was 
there. 

"Your wife," was the answer. 

"Ah!" he exclaimed in sorrow, "my wife 
Richmodis is dead, and my horses would sooner 
ascend to the loft of my house ani look. out of 
the window, than she would be asking to come 
in." 

Scarcely were the words uttered when the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 131 

horses were heard going upstairs, and in com- 
memoration these wooden heads were affixed to 
the windows. One can only say to the sceptic, 
"If you don't believe it, I can show you the win- 
dows." 

In Sternengasse, No. 10, stands a house on 
which are placed two memorial tablets, one de- 
claring that Marie de Medicis died, the other 
that Reubens was born here. I believe the for- 
mer statement is not contradicted, but the lat- 
ter is false, though it is true that he passed a 
part of his early childhood in this dwelling. 

Aside from these and like relics of an olden 
time, there are in Cologne, numerous charming 
modern avenues containing magnificent build- 
ings of varied and beautiful designs, as well as 
shady promenades and handsome squares. A 
series of elegantly planned boulevards, denomi- 
nated BfMgstrassen, extend around the whole 
town. 

I took a leisurely survey of the^e from the 
window of a horse-tram one lovely day. A very 
friendly conductor added much to my pleasure 
and stock of information, by his cheerful con- 
versation . 

A cheery, gentlemanly sort of a young fellow 
he was ; he left his car and tooli the utmost pains 
in piloting me safely to another when I left his 
line. It did seem odd to have him accept with a 
'■^danJce sehr'''' and without indignation, a coin or 
two of trifling value when we parted, and I have 
learned since that I gave twice what might have 
been expected. 

I should have become accustomed to the "tip" 
system by this time, but it still gives me a shock 
every now and then when some well-appearing, 
courteous person betrays his or her inferior 
origin by the placid acceptance of one's small 
change. 



132 ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 

Usually at first the American mind, in chatting 
with a sociable stranger, considers it only a case 
of mutual information and interest ; but gradu- 
ally one awakens to a realizing sense that the 
affable individual is only lying in wait for one's 
loose silver. Sometimes it is hard to know just 
what to do. I have often spent a miserable half 
hour when visiting some famous gallery or pal- 
ace, in trying to decide whether the splendid 
creature in immaculate and decorated "get-up" 
who has shown me so much polite attention, is 
really an official to whom it would be wnldly in- 
sulting to offer recompense, or just a common 
person who is confidently calculating on what 
he may receive. But I have generally found it 
to be the latter. Often too, it has seemed to me 
the height of impertinence to proffer fifteen or 
twenty-five cents to the important and responsi- 
ble head-clerk or manager of my hostelry, though, 
to be sure, he is not so imposing a being as his 
prototype in America. I find, however, that he 
is always willing to accept the slightest favor in 
this line. 

I saw no electric trams in Cologne. In fact, 
electricity is little used abroad in comparison 
to America ; foreigners usually consider it far 
too dangerous for familiar use. The German 
management of the street-car system, as noted 
here and confirmed by later observation, struck 
me as very sensible. In the first place, one 
pays according to the distance one rides, all the 
way from five pfenniges^SLhout a cent and a 
quarter,) up to twenty-five or thirty pfenniges; 
I have never found it higher. Then one receives 
a ticket showing how much money has been 
paid. The cars are neat and well-kept, with a 
definite number of seats as in Paris, so that there 
is very little crowding. Expectoration is most 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 133 

strictly prohibited. There are many points in 
our foreign cousins' ordering of the transporta- 
tion business in general, that we might copy 
with great benefit to our own methods. 

Later on I took a stroll out through an old 
arched gateway, along a delightful road skirted 
on one side by beautiful gardens, both public 
and private, and on the other by the silver, flow- 
ing waters of the romantic river Rhine. 

How fair it all was, glowing in the "evening 
sunset- shine" till one could almost seem to see 
the "JSTiebelungen's ruddy gold" reflected from 
the depths of the clear waters, back upon the 
pleasant paths and parterres above. It is not 
hard in Germany to muse and dream. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

My next stopping-place was Duesseldorf, an 
hour or so from Cologne. Again I was locked in 
all by myself and so continued in solitary state 
absolutely uninterrupted, until I reached my 
destination. 

There were no halts, the train being express, 
so there was nothing to occupy one's attention 
except the fair, green, smiling landscape with 
its fine streams and splendid trees. 

I do not like thi? way of traveling. When 
one is alone it is so "awfully" lonely, and when 
others are in the compartment, one is brought 
so disagreeably near them ; one must either sit 
opposite, staring and stared at, or side by side, 
as one might say "cheek by jow^l." If one hap- 
pens to be in the middle, one has no access to 
the two windows, and at best one has little op- 
portunity to change one's position. Yet for- 
eigners dislike the American railway car because 
it is "so public." I consider it much more ex- 
clusive. In the latter one has one's own section 
where no other person can "molest or make 
afraid," yet one has the advantage of the space 
and light of a roomy car, with one's fellow- 
travelers at a proper distance and w^ith no oc- 
casion to face them or to ride backward unless 
from choice. 

I do not note quite the same caution in Ger- 
many that I observed in France regarding the 
safety of life. While the roads are well and sol- 
idly constructed, yet they usually run across the 
open country with very little, although somewhat, 

134 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 135 

more protection for man and beast than with ue. 
There is usually a low hedge along the line on 
either side, but it coiild be easily overstepped 
by men or animals. Every wagon-road, however, 
is provided at every point of crossing a railroad, 
with strong gates on each side of the track, and 
a gateman — who is sometimes a woman — stands 
on duty as we dash by ; while in the towns there 
is simply no getting upon the track without 
permission, the rails everywhere within town- 
limits being either between walls or elevated on 
massive masonry. 

My journey this time was short and we soon 
entered the fine, roomy station of Duesseldorf. 
This is a pretty town with wide streets and 
very spacious, ornamental avenues called Alices, 
which latter have magnificent trees in double 
rows down their centers. One of these Allies 
is especially fine. A broad canal faced up 
with solid mason-work and bordered by these 
beautiful trees, extends its length through 
the thoroughfare, which is double the width of 
the other boulevards. Graceful, decorative 
bridges span the waters, and light, ornamental 
railings insure safety; while frequent seats 
along under the trees provide delightful rest- 
ing-places for the pedestrian. 

There is a beautifully "rural" park lying al- 
most in the center of the little city, where the 
grand old trees and bowery shrubbery, inter- 
spersed with frequent natural pools, and threaded 
by delightful paths all carefully ordered and kept, 
give all the charm of nature with the added, 
adornments of art. Here, in a secluded dell and 
yet close to the busy street, standing upon a 
thick carpet of living green and embowered in 
overhanging branches and clustering vines, 
stands Duesseldorf s monument to her slain in 
battle. 



136 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The creation is of pure white marble. Two 
or three broad, shallow steps lead up to a spa- 
cious, semi-eircular court or platform of this 
material, encircled by a low railing of the same. 
Upon this foundation is placed the oblong base 
of the memorial, which is classic in conception. 
Rising from this base is a pedestal supporting 
the full-length figure in heroic proportions, of 
a dying warrior in half-recumbent position, 
while at his side the lion of Germany, pitying 
and powerful to avenge, holds beneath his 
mighty paw, the broken spear that has made 
the deadly wound. Upon the front of the 
pedestal are graven the following lines from a 
German poet : — 

"Fame have our heroes enough, and triumphs and 

ever green laurels; 
Tears from poor mother hearts wrung, builded this 

symbol of stone." 

On the back is the inscription : 
"Grateful Duesseldorf to Her Fallen Sons." 

The snowy whiteness of the marble, the deep, 
restful green of the foliage, the quiet nook 
wherein the monument stands, the majestic 
simplicity yet marvelous effectiveness of design 
and execution, all combine to make the memor- 
ial an object of most impressive beauty. 

There are a number of interesting old edifices 
in Duesseldorf and many beautiful modern ones. 
The style of architecture is mainly on bioad, 
severe lines, with decorations of an elevated 
type. Kunst Halle is one of the prominent new 
structures and was built to properly house and 
display the art treasures of Duesseldorf, which 
has a rather peculiar school of its own. 

I had a somewhat odd experience while mak- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 137 

ing my way thither one morning. I had been 
to visit an ancient church and was inquiring 
my way along, when I met an old lady of whom 
I asked directions. I repeated my question two 
or three times as she informed me that she was 
a little deaf, when suddenly she grasped my 
meaning and ejaculated, "-/"a, J«, ja! I am 
going there myself; come along with me." 

I did so and found I had struck a living fount 
and endless torrent of information. The old 
lady walked, as she talked, very rnpidly, and I 
could with difficulty keep pace with her, while 
the rattle of carts and wagons over the stone 
pavements made it almost impossible for me to 
understand her quick utterances in a, to me, 
foreign tongue. 

However, I learned that she was the "widow 
of an artist, the mother of an artist and the sis- 
ter of an artist ;" that she "had a complimentary 
membership-tickft to the exhibitions," but that 
I would "have to pay;" and then she went on 
and gave me a hasty yet comprehensive sketch 
of the beginning, progress and completion of 
the new gallery: the condition and contents of 
the old; the history of the removal of the collec- 
tion, the later additions, and kindred topics too 
many to recall ; while all I contributed to the 
interview was a look of interest, an occasional 
smile and an interjectory "so/" "Ja, ja/" or 
^'gewUs!'", wherever they seemed best to fit in. 

She conducted me safely to the building, 
piloted me in, led me around through the dif- 
ferent rooms and gave me an account of every- 
thing she deemed worthy of notice. 

She, it appeared was, or else her brother, son 
or husband was, or had been, personally 
acquainted with nearly every contemporary 
artist of note, and really her knowledge, range 



138 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

and interest were amazing. She insisted on my 
"doing" everything thoroughly, and I certainly 
made a much more exhaustive survey of this 
collection than I had any idea of making when 
I set out. It struck me as quite amusing that 
a casual inquiry of a chance stranger in a 
by street of a foreign town, should open 
to me such a store of what might be termed 
"compulsory education." But I finally was 
allowed to bid the old lady farewell, whereupon 
I returned to my hotel whence I soon resumed 
my Journey, setting out for Hanover. 

On this stretch I made my first acquaintance 
with what the Germans call a "Day-tsoog, " 
(spelled D. Zug,) which name I was quite at a 
loss to understand. I knew that "D." was 
"D.", and "Zttf/" was "train," but the combi- 
nation suggested nothing to me, unless some- 
thing akin to the "big, big D." of the Captain 
of the Pinafore. 

Later I was told that it was a contraction for 
Durch-Zug^ and as that translates "through 
train," I concluded I had solved the puzzle. 
But soon after I learned that Fern-Zug was the 
term for what we understand by a through 
train, so I was nonplussed again. 

Finally after a long time and much question- 
ing, for the dictionaries were silent on the mat- 
ter and most persons didn't know and few 
seemed to care, I met a friendly inn-keeper who 
kindly made it all plain to me. 

It seems that Fern-Zug is really the through 
train, that is, a train made up for travel without 
change between two distant points, the termini 
of the line ; and though D. Zug is truly a con- 
traction of Durch-Zug, yet that expression is it- 
self a contraction for Durch- Gang -Zug or "cor- 
ridor train," which gives a very different aspect 
to the meaning. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 139 

It was easy to understand why this train that 
I now entered should be called a corridor train, 
for a corridor, or passage, extends from one end 
of the car to the other, not through the center, 
however, but on one side and across the two ends. 
In some respects the cars are like ours in Amer- 
ica. First ; they are set up higher than the 
ordinary continental coach and are entered by 
means of two or three steps; but these are not 
at each end leading up to a platform as with us ; 
instead they run along on each side like those 
on an open street-car, and the doors, of which 
there are four, open opposite each other, from the 
sides into the end passages. Second ; the train 
is vestibuled, so one can pass, as in ours, from 
one end of the train to the other without ex- 
posure. 

Into the side corridor the compartments open; 
eight or ten in all, perhaps, of both first and 
second class, in each carriage, or Wag en, as the 
Germans call it. There is very little difference 
in the two classes in Germany, in fact I could 
see none in point of comfort ; the upholstering 
in the first class may be o£ finer material, and 
perhaps a little gilding or two or three small 
mirrors not larger than a dining-plate, may be 
"thrownin," where the second class has none; 
one cannot speak with certainty in such 
points ; sometimes there are none at all 
anywhere, and at others both classes will 
have them. In each compartment are six 
places, three opposing three, and divided by 
adjustable arms. The seats are roomy and easy, 
but the fine finish and skilled handiwork seen 
in our cars, are entirely lacking. 

The corridor taking up one entire side of the 
carriage, there are but two places in each compart- 
ment next to windows, so the first two arrivals 



140 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

are the lucky ones. If one comes after these, 
one has no chance to view the scenery except 
across one's neighbor's corporosity. The neigh- 
bor will probably entirely control the curtain 
and keep it drawn or not as he prefers, while 
the remaining occupants may be, at his pleasure, 
deprived of light or dazzled with too much. 
Then very likely some one of the six will be 
mortally afraid of the "publicity" of the corri- 
dor along v^rhich an occasional traveler or train- 
man may pass, and so insist on having the door 
into the same tightly closed, and there you are 
shut up in the stuffy little place with four or 
five other hot, dusty, irritated mortals. 

But there are electric bells in each compartment 
and a small, meagerly equipped toilet-room in 
each car ; also a buffet somewhere in the train 
where beverages may be procured, so the train 
is more American-like than the usual style here, 
though far less comfortable than our ordinary 
day-coaches. On these trains there are women 
employed, one or two to each carriage, who 
wear white badges upon their left arms, labeled 
Dienst-Frau. I hardly know what they do, un- 
less it IS to scrub and wash dishes, for they do 
not answer the bells ; if you ring, a man appears. 

Meals may be had en route, by telegraphing 
ahead through a porter who takes your order. 
The repast is brought into the compartment, 
and is sometimes odiously obvious to other oc- 
cupants who, not being hungry themselves, do 
not enjoy seeing and smelling eatables at such 
close quarters. The food, however, is very good 
and not at all expensive to our United States 
ideas of train prices. Drinking-water must be 
ordered and paid for at so much a bottle, but it 
is a great convenience to be able to get it even 
this way, for on the ordinary train one must go 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 141 

without, unless one carries it with one or can 
hail a station-porter during a halt and send him 
for a bottle, which he fetches without ice. 

On this special "Z). Ztt^r," the seats were extra, 
though I have found them so but once since; 
about two marks, (nearly fifty cents) be- 
tween Duesseldorf and Hanover, one hun- 
dred and seventy-eight miles. It was really a 
much appreciated privilege to rise occasion- 
ally and walk up and down the corri- 
dor. I was amused to note that the conduc- 
tor and other trainsmen did not seem to 
realize that they could go through it in announc- 
ing stations, but ran up and down on the plat- 
forms outside as before. Such a strange cus- 
tom for the persons inside who are anxious to 
know, cannot hear, while those outside who 
can hear, know already. Perhaps though, the 
men are forbidden to pass through the train un- 
less absolutely necessary. There are a great many 
"don'ts" and "mustn'ts" in Deutschland. But 
I should think the trainmen would be glad that 
they are not obliged to pass along the steps at 
the sides, clinging to the iron hand-rail while 
the train is in motion, which is the only way 
to go from one compartment to another in the 
ordinary train, rain or shine. 

Not far from Duesseldorf is the ancient 
city of Duisberg, a manufacturing place and 
largely interested in coal traffic, but noteworthy 
as being the burial-place of Mercator, the geog- 
rapher. 

It struck me strangely to see a monument to 
him, for he had never seemed a real being to me ; 
though I confess he has never occupied my 
thoughts to any great extent since my early 
childhood, when I used to ponder over tlae very 
odd maps that appeared on the first pages of my 



142 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

primary ' 'geography-book, ' ' — as the English say, 
— and were labeled "Mercator's Projection." I 
recalled a little friend who once, on hearing a 
Mr. Spalding mentioned, exclaimed: 

"Why! Is Spaldin' a man? I fawt 'e was 
a glue I" 

Likewise my youthful mind had never "fawt" 
of Mercator as "a man," but merely as a Pro- 
jection. 

At this place our train crosses the Ruhr and five 
miles farther on we come to Oberhausen which 
lias the rare distinction in this old country, of 
being a "new place." It is of about twenty-five 
thousand inhabitants and has extensive iron- 
works. 

The region roundabout is very level and not 
specially interesting, though the verdant fields 
and abundant water-courses have a pleasant 
look in the sunshine. 

As we approach Dortmund, however, the 
face of the country changes and, to the left, 
breaks up into ranges of picturesque hills. Dort- 
mund is ancient and venerable, as well as 
important and progressive. It is mentioned in 
history as early as 927; in 1387-8 it successively 
resisted a siege of nearly two years, by the 
Archbishop of Cologne and forty other princes. 

The old walls have been leveled and fine 
promenades laid out along their foundations. It 
has numerous old churches and many "up-to- 
date" foundries, being the seat of the mining 
authorities of Westphalia. 

It was in this locality that the ancient, secret 
and terrible tribunal, the Vehmgericht, origin- 
ated, which exerted such a fearful and powerful 
sway over the whole empire. Dortmund was 
the seat of its supreme court and here in the 
"Court-Yard under the Lindens" the Emperor 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 143 

Sigismund himself was initiated in 1429. One 
of these lindens is still standing and must be 
considerably more then four hundred years old. 
The last meeting was convened here in 1803. 

Distant ten miles is Hamm ( suggestive name ! ) 
which is quite noted for its warm baths. 
It is not here, however, as would seem fit 
and proper, that is located the great depot of 
Westphalia hams and sausages so well known 
to fame, but in the little village of Goetersloh, 
thirty-three miles on, across the Lippe and the 
Ems. 

Here also are the head-quarters of the far re- 
nowned Pumpernickel^ a dark-brown bread or 
cake considered very nutritious. It is made of 
unsifted rye flour, sometimes iced, and is dear 
to the German palate but not to mine. 

The country grows more hilly and is inter- 
spersed with many busy and flourishing towns 
rich in historic interest and containing innumer- 
able fine relics of "ye olden tyme," in the way 
of cathedral, castle, wood-carving, painting and 
stained glass. 

Bielefeld is the center of the Westphalian 
linen trade. Herford possesses many cotton 
and flax mills. At Enger, a small town five 
miles aside from the railway, was the seat of that 
stubborn opponent of Charlemagne, namely the 
Saxon duke, Wittekind, who figures so exten- 
sively in the semi-historic, semi-traditional lore 
of Germany. His bones are still preserved in 
the abbey church here, which w^as built in the 
twelfth century. 

At Lemgo, a quaint and handsome place of 
seven thousand inhabitants, is an extensive fac- 
tory of meerschaum pipes. 

About three miles from Detmold, (where Frei- 
ligrath was born,) rises, in the valley of the Wer- 



144 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ra,the Grotenburg, eleven hundred and sixty feet 
above the the sea, one of the highest points of 
the Teiitoburgian forest. Upon its summit, 
plainly visible for miles around, the celebrated 
Hermann's Devknal, or Monument of Arminius, 
rears itself. Upon an arched substructure one 
hundred feet in height, stands the colossal fig- 
ure of the prince, fifty-six feet high, with raised 
sword the point of which is thirty feet above the 
helmet. This is the work of Ernst von Bau- 
del,who devoted most of his life to its execution. 
The cost of the monument, w^hich is of copper 
andiron, was about two hundred and seventy 
thousand marks, equivalent at the present rate 
of exchange to about sixty-six thousand dollars. 
An admirable prospect is visible from the gal- 
lery of this monument. 

In ascending the hill some very ancient Ger- 
man fortifications known SiB the Kleine Hoenen- 
ring are passed. Going on to Horn and Faderborn 
by Diligence^one comes upon the Externstei7ie,a,n 
odd group of five rocks over one hundred feet 
high, protruding from the earth like gigantic 
teeth. 

In one of these rocks is a grotto that leads to 
a cave. According to an inscription dated 1195, 
in the grotto, it was fitted up by Bishop Henry 
of Paderborn, in imitation of the Holy Sepul- 
cher. Some very curious reliefs hewn from the 
rock, represent a Descent from the Cros«, in two 
sections. In the upper part colossal figures 
show the removal of the body by Joseph of Ari- 
methea; above hovers God the Father carrying 
a banner and a little child. 

The lower portion shows Adam and Eve en- 
tw^ined by a serpent and waiting for redemption. 

At Oeynhausen are warm saline springs con- 
sidered especially efficacious in paralysis. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 145 

Now we cross the Weser and pi-e?ently notice 
to the left, on the Wittekindsburg eight hun- 
dred and twenty feet above sea-level, a monu- 
ment recently erected to Emperor William I. 
Next comes Minden, an ancient cathedral town, 
the fortifications of which were leveled in 1842, 
and which contains many handsome modern 
edifices. 

Still we go on and on, passing many a relic 
of bygone eras in chateau or tower or crumbling 
wall and finally, after speeding some time over 
another long, level and fertile stretch, we see 
the winding, yellow waters of the Leine and roll 
into the handsome and imposing station of the 
flourishing city of Hanover. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Hanover has abovit two hundred thousand in- 
habitants and is situated in a fertile, somewhat 
rolling plain, well watered, principally by the 
navigable river Leine, and its tributary, the 
Ibme. I was much pleased with the clean, airy 
and generally ornamental appearance of the 
place and remained here several weeks. 

I was most fortunate in my location, having 
been referred to a family of ex-governesses, four 
maiden ladies of middle age, who, in addition 
to being excellent hostesses, were also refined 
and cultivated ladies, not only educated, but 
exceedingly skilled in music, drawing, paint- 
ing, Latin and modern languages. 

The eldest was a "plump and pleasing per- 
son," and a most painstaking and indefatigable 
housekeeper, though highly accomplished as 
well. 

The second sister had just returned from 
"finishing" the daughter of the deposed King 
of Hanover, having been a member of this royal 
household many years, traveling and residing 
with her patrons in almost every part of Europe. 
Her reminiscences of the familiar daily "walk 
and conversation" of the august and titled per- 
sons with whom she had come into contact, were 
most interesting, including personal recollec- 
tions of the Queen of England, the Emperors of 
Germany and Russia, and nearly all of their 
numerous distinguished connection, the House 
of Hanover being, as we know, the source of the 
present English line. 

146 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 147 

The third sister was also a traveler, having 
spent in discharge of her duties, two years in 
America and some time in France, Switzerland 
and Holland. In France she had charge of the 
children of our own ex-vice-president Morton. 

Neither was the fourth, whom we used to 
call "the little one," a "stay at home," She 
had spent eighteen years in England and was 
familiar with France and Italy. 

Naturally their information and experience 
were extensive and the ladies were really almost 
walking encyclopedias. But this very fund of 
knowledge and the having been for so many con- 
tinuous years in positions of authority over 
pupils to whom the governess's dictum on all 
points was final and decisive, had given them 
each somewhat of an arbitrary tendency, caus- 
ing them sometimes to forget that the transitory 
members of their household were not of undis- 
ciplined minds to which the governess's opinion 
or decision must be conclusive and without 
appeal. 

This trait was especially noticeable in "the 
little one," and many were the good-natured 
tilts engaged in between herself and the various 
nationalities around the "festal board." Her 
information was usually extremely correct but 
she could with diflflculty admit any point of 
view other than her own, of a subject, and 
rarely knew "when she was beaten," for like 
the "man convinced against his will," she 
would be "of the same opinion still." This, of 
coarse, was her privilege and was of no very 
great consequence, though forcibly illustrating 
the conservative tendency of old-world educa- 
tion; and sometimes, even when we were quite 
willing to accept her conclusions, she had a way 
of stating them with such a superior air, as if 



148 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

she had settled the question forever, that it was 
a trifle irritating. The little lady could not 
yield readily to the idea that perhaps some of 
these "dreadful Americans," being fully her 
own age and often with wider experience, might 
possibly be able to judge fairly well as to tho 
elegance and propriety in diction and pronunci- 
ation of their native tongue ; like many other 
foreigners, she had judged a whole nation by the 
worst specimens that she had seen, failing to 
reflect that if we of America should do the 
same by our immigrants from their shores, we 
should have indeed little conception of the 
learning and culture of the old world. 

One special "passage-at arms" interested us 
all and, as America proved itself well supported 
by standard authorities, it may not be out of 
place to relate it here. The word "menace" 
was used by an American, with the accent on 
the first syllable as customary. 

"Oh!" said the "little one," "You mean 
*men-oce,' I presume." 

"Do you find it so?" inquired the American 
who was, in fact, from the United States; "I 
have never known of its being pronounced other 
than mew-ace, though of course there may be 
more than one pronunciation." This, by the 
way, is almost unheard of in correct German 
pronunciation, so it is hard for a German to 
realize that it may be different in Er glish. 

The possibility of two pronunciations, how- 
ever, the little Fraulein would not admit ; men- 
ace it was and men-ace it must be uncondi- 
tionally. 

"But what is your authority?" some one 
asked. 

"I lived in England eighteen years," replied 
the little governess with dignity, "and I always 
heard it so." 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 149 

'But you must be aware," remarked another, 
"how inattentive many persons, even of culture 
and position, are to points in pronuncdation, 
and I should not think that decisive." 

"Well," she returned somewhat warmly, "I 
should think the English ought to know how to 
speak their own language." 

"Certainly they ought;" assented the Ameri- 
can, "but whether each individual does, is a 
question, as it is in any nation. But as I feel 
sure you did not hear all the English people 
speak and as English is also my own language, 
I am confident in assuming that I am not in 
error ; though, as I said, it is possible it may 
also be correct to say men-ace, so I suggest we 
leave it to any undeniable authority." 

"I know I am right;" she replied; "of 
course, I do not know w^hat you Americans call 
it, for really," — with a superior air, — "the two 
( !) languages are quite different." 

"What do you say, Mrs. A.?" inquired the 
American turning to an English lady at the 
table. She was a relative of Baroness Burdett- 
Coutts, by the way, and the daughter of a baro- 
net, so should be a representative of a fairly 
cultured class. 

"Oh! don't consider me authority, " she re- 
plied, "I seldom look up words; but I always 
call it as you do, me/t-ace." 

This was rather a "staggerer" for the little 
governess, but rallying she said : "Webster gives 
men-ace." 

"Well, I never have noticed it," said the 
American, "though I know he gives men-SLce, 
but where is your Webster? Let's look." 

So Webster was brought and consulted but, 
alas for the "little one," there it stood mew- 
ace, as the American had said, and nothing else. 



150 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

But the small one was not yet vanquished. 

"Oh, well!" she returned, "of course, he's 
an American; he isn't a proper judge of pro- 
nunciation." 

Notwithstanding this rather rude thrust, the 
representative of America preserved an equable 
front and replied that he could not recognize 
any such distinction, that he considered good 
English was also good American, and vice- 
versa : and that unless indisputable reference to 
the contrary was produced, he could see no 
reason for changing his pronunciation. 

"Well," said Mrs. A., "I have an English 
standard dictionary in my room, let us look at 
that." 

It was soon brought, and the word found ; 
here also but one pronunciation was given, and 
that was as before, ?ne??-ace. 

The "little one" saw it but said nothing, 
though we felt from the expression of her face, 
that it would always be men-ace w^ith her, 
"though the heavens should fall." But, in spite 
of this "fixidity" of idea, she was a most inter- 
esting and engaging little woman. 

Afterward when any question of this sort 
arose, Mrs. A's standard English dictionary 
compiled by an Englishman and published by 
an Englishman in England, was consulted and 
found to agree with the best American usage al- 
ways. For instance ; such words as "incompara- 
ble," "Tuesday," "jewel," "immediately," 
'•invalid," and the like, which are so often mis- 
pronounced with us as well as among the 
English, are given exactly the same in both 
English and American lexicons ; so that, in most 
cases, the peculiar "chewing" of their words by 
the English, is as indefensible by their own au- 
thorities, as the flat, strongly nasal intonation 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 151 

of many Americans, is unsupported by our stan- 
dards, though all these defects are wide-spread 
on the respective sides of the water. Of course, 
that the English speak well down in their 
throats while we use more head-tones, may be 
probably accounted for by difference in climate; 
and equally of course, there are ignorant and 
careless Americans and English in all parts of 
the world. Later, on visiting England, I was 
able to verify these observations, 

I was really quite elated to find our usages so 
well authorized, for indeed ''American English"' 
is quite generally regarded abroad, something 
as the barbaric utterances of a Fiji Islander 
might be in the world at large ; it being taken 
for granted that any variation in an American, 
from an accent or diction familiar to a foreigner, 
must be, of necesssity, an exhibition of deficient 
culture, and the former is calmly put in the 
wrong without appeal and without a suspicion 
on the latter's part, that the "dreadful Ameri- 
can" may possibly have had access to quite as 
many pure "wells of English undefiled" and 
have quaff ed therefrom with quite as much judg- 
ment as the critics themselves; and though I 
must sadly own that many of us have room for 
great improvement in speaking, I will not grant 
that we have more than the average English- 
man. 

There are three words, however, "mamma,"' 
"papa," and "were," which I am forced to ad- 
mit are almost universally mispronounced even 
by cultured Americans, though I am glad to 
say that these did not happen to be instanced in. 
any of our little lingual skirmishes. 

Foreigners declare that we say "mommer, "■ 
"popper," and "wur," and alas! I cannot deny 
that many of us do, and though I do not know 



152 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

but these are quite as correct as our English 
friends' "mammaw, " "papaw," and "wear," 
yet I could wish a little more attention might 
be given these words by some of us. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The handsome and prosperous city of Hanover, 
now the capital of the Prussian province of this 
name, possesses unusual advantages for the stu- 
dent desiring to acquire the best German accent, 
while its friendly, hospitable citizens make the 
sojourn of a stranger in the midst of them, very 
comfortable and delightful. 

It was formerly the capital of the kingdom of 
Hanover, but in 1866 the Prussian William made 
war upon all neighboring small kingdoms that 
would not vow fealty to him, and though the 
Hanoverians resisted nobly, they were compara- 
tively few in forces and were vanquished, while 
-their king was banished. 

The older generation can not forget the suffer- 
ings and indignities entailed on their royal fam- 
ily, and, though the province is Prussian by 
name, this portion is loyal at heart to the de- 
posed line ; but such sympathizers have to be 
extremely careful about expressing themselves, 
for the stringent and powerful police system is 
ready to make an example of any reported dis- 
loyalty. 

The royal palace of Hanover from which the 
unhappy reigning family was driven, now stands 
vacant though kept up in good order for the oc- 
casional visits of Emperor William II. Many of 
its choicest treasures have been taken to Berlin 
but the beautiful floors are undisturbed and are 
said to be the finest in Europe. They are of 
rare woods and inlaid in the most elaborate and 
intricate fashion. 

153 



154 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

From another quarter of the city, a magnifi- 
cent avenue of lime, or linden trees, one and 
one quarter miles long and one hundred and 
twenty feet wide, leads out to charming Schloss- 
Herrenhausen, which was the favorite residence- 
of Georges I., I J., and V. 

This estate is the private property of the de- 
posed king; for this reason,] understand, es- 
caping confiscation, though he is nk^ver allowed 
to reside or, in fact, to come here at all. For 
the benefit of his beloved Hanoverians, however, 
he keeps the grounds open to the public, who 
are, by the payment of a small fee to the custo- 
dian, also admitted inside the palace, the palm- 
house and the mausoleum. 

The garden comprises one hundred and 
twenty acres and is laid out in old French style 
with clipped shrubs, antique statues, allegorical 
fountains and an open air theater; the waters 
of the great fountain rise to the unusual height 
of two hundred and twenty-two feet ; I was told 
here that this fountain plays higher than any 
in Europe, but am unable myself either to deny 
or confirm the statement. A colossal sitting 
figure of the Electress Sophia stands on the spot 
where she expired of heart disease in ITli. 

The mausoleum, containing monuments to King 
Ernst August and Queen Frederika by Ranch, is 
thought by many to equal the famous one at 
Charlottenburg. 

The royal stables have recently been removed 
from Hanover. In them are kept the famous 
Hanoverian, (r "Isabella," horses. We have 
all heard of the Queen Isabella who vowed 
never to change her linen until certain troops 
should be victorious, and as a consequence was 
obliged to wear it until it assumed a decidedly 
saffron-like hue. This tint, however objection- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 155 

able in linen, is rather handsome in horses, and. 
is the color of the favored equines who are the 
bearers of the royal line ; no others are allowed 
to use them ; the animals, with their deep canary 
tint and white manes and tails, are beautiful 
creatures. 

The imposing Welfenschloss, or Palace of the 
Guelphs, stands in the avenue of limes. The 
edifice is of Romanesque style, having five towers ; 
since 1878 it has been used as a Polytechnic 
School. A colossal figure of the Saxon Horse 
stands in the great square in front of the palace. 

Hanover has a fine system of electric trams 
moved by the underground system ; that is, the 
force is conducted beneath the surface. I never 
realized before what a desirable thing it might 
be, to be rid of the trolley poles and lines. There 
are also many horse-cars and funny little 
omnibuses in which latter one may ride about a 
mile and a half for about a cent and a quarter. 

According to Baedeker, the "guide, philoso- 
pher and friend" of the general tourist, the cen- 
tral railway station of Hanover, is one of "ihe 
most imposing erections of its kind in Germany." 
It faces the Ernst August Platz and is embel- 
lished by beautiful surroundings of fountains, 
foliage and flowers. Immediately in front rises 
a huge statue on horseback, of Ernst August, 
"The Father of His People," done in bronze. 
The rails themselves, as in so many German cit- 
ies, are elevated upon a lofty viaduct under which 
are arches through which passes the traffic of the 
town. 

There is a remarkably fine theater builJing in 
Hanover, where plays and operas of a superior 
grade are brought out. It is a very large struc- 
ture, of noble proportions, of sufficient height 
only to accord well with its breadth, two stories, 



156 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

I believe ; which reminds me of a modern police 
regulation here and, I think, generally through- 
out Germany, that no building shall be erected 
higher than four stories. Across the principal 
fagade stretches a handsome portico under which 
is a broad carriage approach. Nearly every day 
a fine band discourses the best of music for an 
hour or two from this portico. Twelve statues 
of celebrated composers adorn the balcony above. 
The edifice, like the railway station stands in 
its own grounds, which are very handsome, or- 
namented with statues, fountains and flowering 
shrubs. 

Hanover is well supplied with museums. The 
most interesting one to me, though not the 
largest nor the finest, is the "Leibnitz House," 
an ancient structure with immense pointed roof 
in which are four of the eight stories of the edi- 
fice. It was built in 1652, long before the height 
of buildings was regulated by law. 

Here are relics back to the thirteenth century, 
while the chair, desk and other personal eflfects 
of the celebrated philosopher, are preserved with 
much care. 

The Kestner Museum, standing in lovely 
grounds, was presented to the town by Herr 
Hermann Kestner, grandson of Goethe's "Lotta." 

Nicolai Chapel, some parts of which date 
back to the twelfth century, is the oldest church 
in Hanover and stands in a quiet greenery and 
surrounded by ancient tombs, albeit in one of 
the busiest portions of the town. It is now used 
by the English colony as a place of worship. 

Hanover also has its fine war monument to the 
fallen heroes of the vicinity. It is of Swedish 
granite and represents in colossal figures, a 
Germania crowned by two genii, and is adorned 
with several reliefs of trophies, while in front is 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 157 

a mourning figure of Hanover witli two lions. 
It stands in a lovely parterre which in the season 
is a mass of brilliant bloom, while in the im- 
mediate background sway and bend the leafy 
branches of tali forest trees. 

These trees are on the southern boundary of 
the JEilenriede , a beautiful wood extending out- 
ward from this point, and which was bequeathed 
to the city by two maiden sisters, with the con- 
dition that the area of the gift should never be 
lessened: so, as the town spreads out, whenever 
a part of the bequest is sold for building lots, 
an equally large portion must be purchased on 
the other side and thrown into the forest. Its 
name is a combination of the donors, Eile and 
Riede, and is a constant reminder to Hanover, 
of the generous old maids to whom the city owes 
so much. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

There are numerous relics of a bygone era in 
Hanover, especially in the "Old Town," as a 
certain part is called. Narrow, crooked, old 
streets and quaint, antique houses delight the 
eye of the antiquarian and give the present gen- 
eration an idea of how former ones used to live. 

There are some queer old graveyards too, in 
Hanover, In one is the tomb of a "giant," who 
is depicted in standing posture, full ^ize, very 
tall, upon his tombstone. Opposite him is a 
similar tall stone whereon is graven the full 
length figure of a young lady popularly known 
as "the giant's wufe." 

The versatile litile German governess kindly 
"went with us to this place to act as guide. 
Never having been here since her childhood, she 
was anxious to visit it again. As an example 
of how tradition may be made, I will relate that 
on our way thittier "the little one" told us that 
the old nurse who had charge of this family of 
governesses when it was merely a family of little 
girls, used to take them to this grave and tell 
them how the lady buried there had died from 
tight lacing, thus impressing on their youthful 
minds the evils of that pernicious practice. 
The old nurse could not read, therefore her stock 
of information was a mingled web of fancy and 
memory. To her, I believe, was also attribu- 
table the supposition that the deceased young 
woman was the giant's wife, and as her stone 
was as tall as bis, she, of course was a giantess. 

But we Americans are usually of rather an in- 

158 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 159 

vestigating turn of mind and not specially 
prone to accept without question statements 
leaning toward the marvelous; and thus our 
party on arrival upon the scene, began to view 
the surroundings with a "cricket's eye." We 
were first surprised to note that the "giant's 
wife," instead of reposing by the side of her 
husband, was laid directly opposite him on the 
other side of the wide path that led through the 
■cemetery. The two tall stones stood face to 
face about ten feet apart. Bending down, we im- 
mediately began to spell out the worn and nearly 
indistinguishable, old German text upon the 
respective tombs. The giant's record was all 
straight enough; name, age, dates of birth and 
death given; but when we turned to the stone of 
the lady, we met with several incongruities. 
First, the giant was a hundred years older than 
his "wife," second, she was not a giantess at all, 
but a slim, little girl represented as standing, 
life-size, on a sort of dais or platform, which 
necessitated the height of her tombstone; third, 
she was but fifteen when she died and had never 
been married; and fourth, there was not the 
slightest allusion to any circumstance that might 
be construed into any supposition that she had 
died of tight-lacing. 

The little governess was amazed. She said 
she had never thought of doubting the state- 
ments of her old nurse and so had continued to 
believe and to narrate to others the impressive 
story handed down by that venerable dame, who 
evidently possessed a vivid imagination and a 
iine faculty for "pointing a moral and adorning 
a tale." 

In another old churchyard is a rather curious 
sight. A heavy granite tomb, seemingly as sol- 
idly built as possible, was erected many years 



160 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ago in what is termed "perpetuity," that is, a 
certain sum was paid to secure a guarantee that 
the grave should never be opened or disturbed 
to make room for others, as is often done liere. 

But strange to say, a little seed fell into some 
tiny crevice of the stone structure, and from that 
seed has spiung a large and vigorous tree, that 
expanding, has thrust aside the mighty blocks of 
ponderous granite with resistless force, so that 
the tomb that was to have been sealed forever,, 
has been opened hy the hand of nature itself. 
Such an incident in the romance and legend- 
loving land of Germany, could not pass unnoted, 
and many are the mysterious and miraculous 
tales woven about this "opened grave," 

In the same churchyard may be found the 
grave of Charlotte Kestner, "Goethe's Lotta," 
lying by the side of her husband and other rela- 
tives. 

We went also to visit the Jews' burial-place, 
now closed, but dating back long ago to the time 
when no Jew was permitted to reside within the 
gates of Hanover. They were obliged to dwell 
outside, coming in to do business but going out 
at sunset. In that almost barbarous era, they 
w^ere, of course, exposed to raids and robberies 
without redress, with ro protection anywhere. 
Finally the monarch of that day had pressing 
need of a large sum of money. This was raised 
for him by the Jews without compensation, on 
condition that they might be allowed a place with- 
in the walls to bury their dead. It was granted 
and to this spot we now went. 

Somber and grim enough it seemed with its 
now never opened gates, its rank, neglected veg- 
etation and its queer,high tombs. The little gover- 
ness said that the Jews were buried standing, but 
whether this is a fact or merely another instance 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 161 

of the old nurse's lively imagination, I am un- 
prepared to say. I may add in this connection, 
that at the present day there are no more valued 
and honored citizens in Hanover, than certain 
of the once despised Jewish race. 

It v^as in Hanover that I first encountered the 
unique, massive stoves of Germany. There is 
one of more or less size in each apartment of this 
pejision. They are each mounted on a large 
base, generally some kind of stone but some- 
times solid wood heavily zincked. The most 
imposing one is in the drawing-room, being 
abojt eight feet high. It is composed of white 
tiles built up into the form of a little temple and 
ornamented over the front door with a large me- 
dallion in pale gray, representing a child and a 
lamb. They tell a story in the house with much 
relish, of an unsophisticated American lady 
who, on calling to engage rooms, seemed much 
fascinated by this structure, and finally inquired 
in a melancholy tone befitting the painful refer- 
ence ; 

"May I ask whose monument that is?" 

It really is more suggestive of an obituary 
memorial than a heating-apparatus. Some of 
them are works of art in beautiful porcelain, 
but most of them are built of colored tiles heav- 
ily glazed. In many of the museums and old 
palaces, one finds these stoves in very fanciful 
styles representing birds, lions, bears, and other 
figures ; I recall one in particular in the palace 
of Sans Souct at Potsdam, in Frederick the 
Great's favorite promenade gallery, that was in 
the form of a large eagle in a surprisingly con- 
voluted attitude. 

Another variety of stoves of a later era is 
made of iron cast in various forms ; these are in- 
teresting though not so unique as the monumen- 



162 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

tal tile structures of earlier generations. There 
is one standing in my present apartment, mod- 
eled apparently after twin towers. The two 
are connected at the base by a fire-box of good 
size, having a cathedral-like door. The towers 
rise to a height of seven or eight feet and at in- 
tervals are connected by what might be called 
bridges going across from one to the other; in 
each of these is a kettle-hole with a lid. Inves- 
tigation shows that all this superstructure is 
hollow and I suppose it is calculated to provide 
for an extensive circulation of hot air within, 
and consequent radiation from the hot metal 
into the room. It is very ornamental and quite 
imposing in its sable majesty. But these fanci- 
ful styles, I believe, are entirely out of date 
now, as even in slow-going old Germany, are 
gradually coming into use the improved and 
scientific methods of heating appertaining to the 
pres-ent day. 

As a matter of course the semi-annual "stove- 
moving" that is the horror of the rural house- 
holder in our country, is not a feature in 
German homes. If any change in stove matters 
becomes essential, a mason must be summoned 
and the entire structure pulled down and re- 
built, i)ut this happens so seldom that the tem- 
pers of families are not often unduly strained in 
this respect. 

I think I have omitted to mention how greatly 
travelers are annoyed abroad by the continual 
receipt of countkss cards, circulars and letters 
of business firms, on many of which postage is 
due, which I, for my part, at first innocently 
paid, not knowing then that I could refuse to 
accept the documents. I attributed this inun- 
dation so far as I was concerned, to the fact 
that I had in France often put up at large hotels 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 163 

from whence, doubtless, arrivals were reported 
to the papers. But comino: into Germany, I was 
possessed of private addresses and in many 
places avoided the hotels altogether, so I could 
not account for still being deluged as before. On 
expressing my wonder one day to my hostess, I 
was informed that all pension keepers were 
obliged by law to send lists of the arrivals 
and departures of their guests to the police for 
publication, so that we were all "before the 
public," whether we pleased or not. 

It is really quite surprising to an American to 
find how far the details of police interference 
extend. Though one is not, on the moment of 
one's arrival in Germany, seized, as in France, 
figuratively by the throat and commanded to 
yield up, at once, one's name, age, condition, in- 
tentions and so forth, yet one must by the end 
of a week, supply all these details to the police; 
and the proprietor of any place of public, nay, 
even also of private entertainment, must see 
that this is done, under penalty of fine for neg- 
ligence. The purposed length of stay and in- 
tended further destination of each guest must 
also be reported. 

Another police regulation — a very sensible one 
but astonishing to the American, — is that no 
person may take a music lesson or practice with 
open windows, on any instrument, under penalty 
of fine. 

Neither can one have any festivities, lasting 
beyond ten p. m., even of the simplest nature, 
without first gaining permission of the authori- 
ties. Even in the seclusion of one's own draw- 
ing-room and surrounded by one's family in 
innocent merry-making, is one liable to be inter- 
rupted after that hour by the sudden appearance 
of a uniformed official with "orders to quit." 



164 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Nor can any person in planning a house place 
windows so that they overlook a neighbor's 
premises without that neighbor's express per- 
mission and dictation as to where and how he 
shall be surveyed. 

Many other formalities very surprising to us 
who dwell in "the land of the free and the home 
of the brave," might be cited but these few give 
some idea of what it is to live under a paternal 
government. I used sometimes in America to 
think, when groaning under exorbitant transpor- 
tation charges, that it would be a good thing if 
the government would take the railways in 
charge, like the postal service, and insure a uni- 
form, che-ip rate; but after knowing something 
of the railways here, which are in governmental 
hands, I have changed my mind. True, the 
rates are fixed and very moderate, but oh! the 
struggle it is to get any information out of any 
official. If you know all about a projected trip, 
he will deign to sell jou a ticket for any place, 
but as to giving you any advice or assistance in 
regard to connections, facilities, or desirable 
routes, he has no idea or inclination. What 
does it matter to him? He has his salary any- 
way whether the road is well-patronized or not, 
and there is no riv.il line to seduce passengers by 
more affable and obliging treatment. In Ger- 
many, France, England and, in fact, nearly all 
foreign countries, such things as gratuitous 
time-cards, foldereJ, and general railway litera- 
ture are almost unknown. 

Here again the Tourist Agencies are service- 
able, as a traveler can get any desired informa- 
tion at their offices without charge. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Leaving Hanover, I started on what the Ger- 
mans call a JRund-Reise, this name being ap- 
plied to certain trips at reduced rates on which 
one takes no luggage except what can be carried 
by hand. For the benefit of the "lone w^oman," 
I will explain that to decide on my route I went 
to an office, not of an "Agency," but of a private 
individual whose advertisement I had seen, who 
laid out for me a desirable route giving me a 
written program with all details including esti- 
mated expenses of the trip, for all of which I 
paid him about sixty cents. Our business was 
transacted in German, but if the "lone one" 
does not know the language, she would better 
take with her an interpreter to such a place, as 
she would not wif^h to misunderstand any of the 
items. 

My first stoppage was at the ancient and most 
interesting town of Hildersheim on the borders 
of the Hartz mountains, a place that has re- 
tained many mediaeval features. At a very 
early period, even as far back as the tenth cen- 
tury, this town attained great importance as a 
cradle of art, notonly mediaeval but Romanesque, 
and according to authorities, "one of the most 
attractive and characteristic features consists of 
its timber architecture in the German Renais- 
sance style. The richly decorated facades ex- 
ecuted by wood-carvers and sculptors, bear 
abundant testimony of the taste, the humor and 
the enterprise of the period." 

The population is about thirty thousand and 

165 



166 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

the place is evidently quite a center of business 
activity. I immediately went out for a walk, 
following a wide, handsome street which soon 
led into a crooked, old-fashioned thoroughfare 
where, on either hand, might be seen examples 
of the ornamental and substantial styles of the 
builders of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
turies. 

It is difficult to describe these edifices ; they 
are so totally unlike anything erected nowadays 
that a historical interest is added to the esthetic, 
throwing a "glamour of the past over the reali- 
ties of the present." 

Some one has said that "a walk through the 
streets of a North German town is indeed a feast 
of varied and permanent enjoyment for the 
traveler of refined taste in art." I should not 
make even that limitation, but declare that no 
one with eyes to see, could fail to be moved to 
admiration and to wonder. 

Pursuing my way, I reached a fine mediaeval 
square called the Altstaedter Markt, which may 
be interpreted literally, "Old-Town Market," 
though there is nothing about it now suggestive 
of any modern market-place. It is surrounded 
by marvelous, antique structures. Language 
fails to convey an idea of their quaint and elab- 
orate beauty, and even photographs and engrav- 
ings are inadequate, as so much of the details, 
which are worked out in the finest fashion, is 
there lost. 

The Knockenhauer Amthaus is said to be the 
finest timber building in Germany. It was con- 
structed in 1529 and is described in the guide- 
books as a "veritable gem of timber architec- 
ture." Above the five stories of the building 
proper, rises the lofty gabled roof, itself con- 
taining several stories. After the quaint fashion 



ONE WOMAN ^\ANDERING 167 

of the time each succeeding story projects some 
one or two feet beyond the one beneath. To 
quote from a popular author, "the fagade is cov- 
ered with figures and other ornamentation in 
which painting and wood- carving vie with each 
other." Scarcely a square inch of surface is 
left unadorned by conceits cunningly carved in 
the wood, both in high and low relief; such as 
garlands, leaves, birds, beasts, human beings, 
mottoes and so forth, showing an astonishing 
liveliness of fancy as well as an exquisite skill 
in execution. 

These are alternated with panels and friezes 
of paintings having a smoothness of finish sug- 
gesting enamel. 

The figures are traced with a great deal of 
humor, while texts in Old-German script accom- 
panying, vary from "grave to gay, from lively to 
severe." They are usually in the pithy couplet 
to which I have referred before. One of these 
little paintings represents a jolly-looking bur- 
gher of comfortable proportions, seated at a 
well-spread table upon which a huge joint and 
various flagons of strong waters are extremely 
prominent. Traced above this is the suggestive 
legend : 

"And yet our fathers were no fools !" 
Still another shows a monarch in rich robes 
and surrounded by all the luxuries of the time, 
with a great heap of ready coin spread out be- 
fore him on a table. Just behind, however, 
stands the skeleton figure of Death ^bout to 
grasp his victim. Encircling this is a motto, 
something to this efi'ect: 

"Not even g-old 

Can loose Death's hold!" 

A detailed description of the countless crna- 



168 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ments and (Conceptions wrought out upon this 
structure, is necessarily impossible here, even 
were nij stock of words sufficient for the subject- 
As one stands below and gazes upward on to 
the gradually projecting stories, where the in- 
creased height of each succeeding one is 
partially counteracted by its shorter lateral dis- 
tance from the beholder, one vi-^ws such a wealth 
of decoration and curious handiwork that one 
involuntarily wonders how long those people 
lived who had time thus to elaborate every inch 
of the outer surfaces of their buildings. 

But this is only one of the astonishingly 
quaint, beautifiil and ancient edifices in this 
square. The We/Iekind Uans dating from 1598, 
is also most elaborately carved and painted. 
The descendants of the Wedekind family still 
occupy the building, dealing on the lower floor 
in colonial supplies, a business pritbably handed 
down from father to son — or daughter, — through 
all the generations since this old house was new. 

Numerous others of unusual interest and 
charm might be mentioned, but pages indeed 
would be required for a full catalogue. 

One very queer, old place in a side street, is 
called the House of the Emperors on account of 
having a row of Eoman Emperors carved all 
along the sides. 

Numerous and beautiful also are the churches 
of Hildesheim and the old cathedral with its 
wondrous bronze doors and antique candelabrum. 
These and other marvelous specimens of work in 
this metal were executed under Bishop Bernward 
between the years 995 and 1032. The doors date 
from 1015 and are adorned with sixteen curious 
and intricate reliefs representing the Fall and 
.the Redemption. 

The large candelabrum is unique and a model 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 169 

of its era; I saw copies of it afterward in sev- 
eral museiiLus in different sections. 

Indeed in the time of Bernward and his im- 
mediate successors down to 1154, Hildesheim 
became one of the most important seats of 
Romanesque art in Germany. The cathedral, 
which was built in 1055-61 on the site 
of an earlier church dating from 872, is of this 
■style, but was much changed and debased by 
alterations of an unsjmmetrical character in the 
■eighteenth century. 

St. Michaels is called one of the finest Roman- 
esque churches in Germany. It has a lovely 
location upon a beautiful hill overlooking the 
river Innerste, and surrounded by noble trees. 
From here a promenade extends along the "Ram- 
parts." by which name is known a succession of 
fine, elevated parks occupying the place of the 
former veritable ramparts, and commanding a 
charming view. 

Tearing myself away from this peculiarly in- 
teresting spot, I took train for Goslar, a little 
farther on into the fastnesses of the Hartz. 

The region grows hillier and more wooded as 
we wind along to the foot of the Rammelsberg 
where is situated the quaint town which is our 
destination. The Rammelsberg is two thousand 
and forty feet above sea-level and has yielded 
varying quantities yearly of at least eight differ- 
ent minerals, a surprising variety to be found in 
■so limited an area. It is honey-combed with 
shafts and galleries in every direction. 

To the west of Goslar rises the Steinberg, not 
■so lofty as the Rammelsberg but very picturesque. 

The ancient town itself lying on the river Gose, 
Is, if possible, still more charming than Hildes- 
heim ; being only about one third as large, it is 
more rural and the streets are diversified by fre- 



170 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

quent gardens and arbors rich in foliage and 
flowers. 

As I left the train, a vei-y sociably disposed 
Dienstmann, or porter, approached and, offering 
his services, threw my bag over his shoulder with 
the remark that it would much pleasanter to 
walk than to ride, if the "gracious lady" felt so 
inclined. Nothing loath, 1 agreed and we pro- 
ceeded to thread the old-time pathways that 
have echoed for so many centuries to the tread 
of hurrying and of halting feet. My guide was 
exceedingly painstaking in pointing out various 
noteworihy and curious objects on our route, 
giving a brief history of each, wiih many orig- 
inal comments. 

Near the station is an immense round tower, 
almost a ruin, though signs of habitation were 
evident, and sounds of hilarity issuing forth fell 
upon the ear. It seems that this is a part of 
the ancient town-fortifications, but is now used 
as a hotel, having an elegant, modern interior 
little according with its antique outside. 

My Bienstmaiin piloted me to a funny little 
inn where I received a cordial reception ; after 
paying requisite attention to the demands of a 
somewhat vigorous appetite, I retired to my 
room which proved to be one of the quaintest 
and cleanest of chambers, with shining blue floors,, 
low, dazzlingly white walls, and heavy beams 
and rafters of dark, polished wood, testifying to 
centuries of support and shelter. There was a 
concert going on in the coffee-room below, and 
indeed all night long the sound of musical in- 
struments and of voices uplifted in melody, 
floated throvigh the air, mingling with my 
dreams. 

There are manj^ remaining evidences in Gos- 
lar, of its old and honorable history. Here again 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 171 

one sees the queer, old buildings and the won- 
derful workmanship before described, but it is a 
sleepy little place and quietly enough it lay 
among its cool shadows, as I walked abroad 
next morning to gaze further upon its beauties. 

The people are cordial and friendly, as gener- 
ally throughout Germany. They rarely pass 
one without courteous salutation, and even lit- 
tle children nod and smile and cry, "6rw^ew Toy.'''' 
It is a pretty custom and makes a stranger ft el 
very much at home. 

This fashion of salutation is very dilFerent in 
France and Germany than at home in America, 
or in England either, for that matter. 

While it is carried much further in Germany 
than in France, one is always expected to 
exchange bows there with whomever one may 
meet in the hall, lift or drawing-room of one's 
abode, unless indeed there is a crowd of strang- 
ers or one is in a very large establishment, like 
the mammoth hotels; and even in these, one is 
expected to bow to his companions at table, and 
to bid his attendant "good morning, "and "good 
night," with great punctiliousness and to Ure 
much formality in making requests or thanking 
one for services. The French servant or trades- 
person is addressed as Ilonsieur, Iladame or 
Ma^m^selle, as the case may require, and he or 
she is equally courteous in response, always ad- 
dressing a superior in position, in the third 
person. This latter form, though observt d 
somewhat in German}'', is not so universal as in 
France; but in Germany a pers^on would be con- 
sidered hopelessly ill-bred who, no matter how 
large the table, should take or leave his seat 
without catching the eye of the hostess, (who 
always presides,) and making a profound bo v 
as he ejaculates ^'Gesegnete MaJilzeit," which is 



172 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

a German equivalent for "Good Appetite!" 
New arrivals, of course, do not always know 
of this usage, and the situation is (•ometiroes a 
little embarrassing. I presume we all remember 
Mark Twain's comical setting forth of this 
custom as he encountered it. Even in traveling, 
it is usual for anyone entering or leaving a 
railway-carriage, to acknowledge the presence 
of others by a courteous bow. 

The French and Germans too, seldom, if ever, 
fail to formally present strangers to each other, 
and I found the fashion of hand-shaking, which 
I had supposed distinctly American, was really 
particularly German. 

Just across from my hotel, stands Goslar's 
Bath-Haas, or Town Hall, simple but quaint, 
dating from the fifteenth century. Among the 
many curosities, old books, paintings, charters 
and so forth, may be specially mentioned one 
of a widely different nature, a Beisskatze, 
(Biting-Cat!) a kind of cage in which shrews 
used to be imprisoned. 

Upon an eminence on the outskirts of the 
town rises a palace, the Kaiserhaus, said to be 
the oldest secular edifice in Germany. Its loca- 
tion is remarkably fine and the magnificent old 
building, which was most judiciously restored 
in 1878, looks down in serene dignity upon the 
little world at its feet. 

Within, the Imperial Hall is fifty six yards 
long, seventeen wide and thirty-five feet high. 
One side is almost entirely of glass, so many 
and immense are the windows. Opposite 
the central one, is the ancient Imperial 
Throne which stood in the cathedral until 1820, 
and then came into the possession of Prince 
Charles of Prussia. In the chapel adjoining, is 
the painted tomb of Henry III., containing 
his heart, preserved at Hanover until 1884. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 173 

Somewhat distant from this castle are some 
venerable ruins that testify to the ancient 
grandeur of Goslar, around which are entwined, 
many legends. Heine and other poets have sung 
many a sweet song inspired by the beauty and. 
romance of this vicinity. 

Not very far from these ruins stands the 
North Portal, all that is left of a once famous 
cathedral founded in 1039. This portal is now 
used as a place of worship by itself, and is in- 
deed antique and quaint. (1 know that adjec- 
tive is overworked, but what is a poor scribe to 
do in the limitations of the English language?) 
A richly sculptured column stands at the en- 
trance, surmounted by a Gorgon's head, reminis- 
cence, it is said, of the old-time use of such heads 
to ward off evil influences. 

In the gable over the entrance, are odd-look- 
ing colored figures of the Emperor Konrad, his 
wife Gesela and Saints Mathew, Simon and 
Jude. What living, breathing realities these 
old saints and martyrs i^eemed to the people of 
the earlier centuries. 

Inside the Portal are several interesting relics 
of the ancient cathedral, among which may be 
noted an oblong box of brass plates, borne by 
four crouching figures and containing numerous 
circular holes. It is popularly called "Kodi's 
Altar," from the supposition that it was for- 
merly a part of the shrine of that idol, but no 
one really knows for what it was originally de- 
signed. 

That the ancient genius and skill in wood- 
carving are not yet extinct in this region, is 
proved by the existence of a most marvelous 
clock which is on exhibition here in the home 
of its maker. To visit it, I wandered down a 
country-like lane bordered on each side by sweet- 



174 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

smelling gardens and picturesque homes, until I 
came to a little cottage charmingly set within a 
bower of bloom. 

Following the direction indicated by a painted 
hand, I entered this enchanting spot and pro- 
ceeded beneath the vine-wreathed lattice-work 
to the open door of the dwelling. Here were 
gathered some half a dozen sight-seers, like my- 
self desirious of inspecting the wonderful 
time-piece, though none of them from across the 
sea. 

The maker and owner soon appeared and 
showed us all the curiosities of his master-piece. 
It was in the form of a temple and is most elab- 
orate in detail, being all hand-work and 
carved with the utmost delicacy from woods 
of varying colors and hardness, some o£ 
which were the product of America. At the 
stroke of the hour, music is heard, sentinels at 
various points salute, soldiers in the center sur- 
rounding a figure of Christ on the cross, manip- 
ulate their arms and implements, while one lifts 
his spear and pierces the side of the crucified 
Jesus. Above, a door opens and the Twelve 
Apostles appear one by one, and pass before a 
figure of the risen Lord, each bowing his head 
as he comes opposite to receive the benediction 
of the Savior, who extends his hands in bless- 
ing. 

Numerous other features, such as details for 
showing the seasons, the times of heavenly 
bodies, days of the week and month, the cur- 
rent year, the presenting of a birthday card at 
a given date and so forth, all displaying a sur- 
prising store of skill and patience in design and 
execution, are to be noticed. 

The structure stands about eight feet high 
and was intended as a present to the King of 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 175 

Hanover, being nearly completed when the 
troublous times of 1866 arose, which ended 
in his banishment; after which the "ruling 
powers" would not allow the old artisan to carry 
■out his project, so he kept the clock himself and, 
putting it on exhibition at about twelve and one 
half cents a head, has made his fortune. 

One characteristic of the neighborhood of 
Goslar is the Farbensuempfe, ponds fed by 
streams from the Rammelsberg, and yielding 
the ocher dye so profitable here. Goslar was 
for a long time the favorite residence of the 
Saxon and Salic Emperors. Henry IV. was 
born here in 1050 and the attachment of the cit- 
izens to him involved the town in his misfor- 
tunes. In 1204 it was utterly destroyed by 
Otho IV., but rallied for many a long year of 
prosperity afterward. To-day, prosperous and 
thriving ia its quiet fashion, it sits among its 
green hills and wooes with an irresistible charm, 
the fancies of the poet and the painter. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

And thus I kept wandering on in the beauti- 
ful June weather, each day penetrating a little 
farther into the mystic region of the Hartz. 
Never traveling at night, I had full opportunity 
to enjoy all the romantic scenery of this far- 
famed locality. 

It is indeed lovely, but with this, as with so 
many spots of historic and legendary interest^ 
the enchanting element is not so much the ac- 
tual characteristic of the scenery about us, as it 
is the connection between it and the songs and 
stories familiar to us since our earliest recollec- 
tion, and the legendary lore that has come down 
through so many centuries, from a credulous 
and impressionable people; from a time when 
ever)^ grove had its dryads, every stream its 
nixies, every cave its gnomes and every mount 
its ogres. 

Yet this locality, while very picturesque and 
certain to arouse enthusiasm in the romantic 
breast, in actual beauty falls far below our owu 
Green, White, Adirondack or Cumberland ranges, 
nor can it in any wise compare with the grandeur 
of our Rocky, Nevada or Coast mountains. 

But there is a quaintness and a wildness, 
which yet is not at all like the solitude of the 
virgin forests and stretches of our own new land ; 
not a real isolation but rather an arrest of de- 
velopment by some mysterious spell, as of the 
Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, which attracts 
and charms. 

The Hartz is chiefly a mining region and con- 
ire 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 177 

sists of an isolated range rising abruptly from 
the plain on all sides, with heights and recesses 
unattainable in former rude eras, only by the 
most indefatigable. 

What wonder then that those heights and re- 
cesses above, looked upon by the toilers in the 
bowels of the earth below, but rarely save 
through the mists of morn and eve, should be 
peopled at will with ghostly multitudes, by the 
teeming fancies of the mystical and poetical 
German of the Middle Ages? 

It seems strange to know to-day that the 
highest peak is only thirty-four hundred and 
fifteen feet above sea-level; but the atmosphere 
is clear and the sky is lovely, Oh ! so lovely ;and 
there is something about the air that exhilarates 
and makes one feel that the world is indeed 
"very good." What is it Goethe sings? 

"How brightly beams 

The sun on me ! 
The fields and streams 

Smile happily. 

The flowers appear 

On shrub and plain; 

As if to hear 

The wild bird's strain. 

And love and mirth 

To all Increase; 
O, Sun and earth ! 

O, bliss and peace !' 

The climate of the Hartz region is said to be 
much like that of Central Norway, even the 
heats of mid-summer being here agreeably tem- 
pered by the north winds of the Baltic Sea. 

Many varieties of railway carriages do I en- 
counter in this expedition; some entirely unique, 
others a combination of several different styles ; 
altogether making such a confusion in my mind. 



178 ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 

that I give up all idea of trying to remember 
them. One, however, I specially recollect be- 
cause exteriorly it had a familiar look and I 
thought I had actually come across an American 
car at last. To be sure, it was of a rusty brown 
color, had very small windows and its outer 
finish was about on a par with American freight- 
cars, but it had end platforms with steps, and 
doors leading from these into the end of each 
car like ours. I entered, but to my disappoint- 
ment found that within it was divided off into 
tiny compartments as usual, though the aisle 
ran between the seats lengthwise, instead of 
across as ordinarily; but each compartment was 
shut off from the next by a door wtich the con- 
ductor locked every time he passed through, so 
that I could really perceive no advantage over 
the common style, except the fact that the 
conductor did not have to be exposed to the 
weather. 

Now we are in motion again. As we go on 
and upward, the way becomes more winding 
and we are more and more shut in by the encom- 
passing hills. Oker, Harzburg, Islenburg, Werni- 
gerode and many other beautiful hill-side towns 
spread out before us, each inviting us to tarry 
awhile amid its natural loveliness. 

The former lies at the entrance of the wild 
Okerthal, the road ascending which, affords 
picturesque views of the precipitous cliffs. II- 
senburg is situated just outside the Ilsethal, one 
of the finest valleys of the Hartz, presenting a 
succession of remarkably striking rock and for- 
est-pictures that at times are almost sublime. 

The road, winding in and out and around the 
most charming scenes, follows a rushing moun- 
tain-brook, enlivened by a series of miniature 
waterfalls, in the midst of which one sees some 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 179 

surprising rock-formations. The most conspic- 
uous, perhaps, is the llsenstein, a precipitous 
buttress of granite, rising to a lieight of five 
hundred feet above the valley. 

Many are the foot-paths leading through all 
parts of this romantic region, and pedestrians of 
all grades and nations abound, from the bare- 
footed peasant with shoulders bowed beneath a 
heavy burden, to the fully equipped, modern 
"globe-trotter" with fancy outfit and sturdy 
alpenstock, for "bikes" are here at a discount. 

Here and there, at the most available points, 
may be seen some extensive and imposing castle. 
That of Count Wernigerode, above the town of 
the same name, is particularly picturesque in 
its lofty situation, looking down the slopes of 
the Hartz and upon the junction of two fine rivers. 

Everywhere upon the most inaccessible crags, 
are seen the crumbling ruins, in various degrees 
of disintegration, of a ruder and more ancient 
architecture, whose former possessors, once 
dwelling in continual warfare among these pla- 
teaus and peaks, have left little trace of their ex- 
istence, other than these eloquent vestiges of 
generations long since vanished. 

The road now ascends still more abruptly 
through the beautiful, pine-clad valley of the 
Steinerne Renne, where the shadows are dense 
and silent and where the dashing mountain-tor- 
rent rushes downward over its stony bed, 
to find its level so far away in the vale be- 
low. One becomes almost bewildered with 
the constant recurrence of cascade and cliff, 
of rock and rill, of sombre shade and sunny 
stretch. 

We are favored with delightful weather and 
we hope for its continuance, for now we are 
about to reach the culminating point of our ex- 



180 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

pedition, the ascent of the mist-enveloped and 
specter-haunted Brocken. 

We come at nightfall to the enchanting town 
of Blankenburg, which seems fairer and more 
charming than any before. They are so clean, 
these little towns, so trim and tidy, that one 
feels as if it were all the time some festal date 
and that everything was in order for the occa- 
sion. 

I leave the train and am inducted into a 
"spick and span" little 'bus, that drives off and 
away, uphill and down, through smooth, twisty 
and narrow, but beautifully kept streets, where 
the old-fashioned houses seem to smile cordially 
upon the stranger. Finally we arrive at a queer 
old inn and drive right in at, apparently, the 
front doorway, but which proves to be a paved 
way, over which are bedrooms, and on the one 
hand, the dining-room, on the other, the office. A 
little farther along is a circular court under a glass 
roof, all within the walls of the dwelling, where 
the horses are unhitched and the vehicles left, 
while the animals themselves are led off through 
a rear door, to their own special quarters. 

A stairway within, at one side of the front 
paved entrance, all decorated in gay, blooming 
plants and graceful vines, and overlooking the 
court which is also adorned with greenery, led 
to my apartment. This proved to be a large, 
old-fashioned room most comfortable and inter- 
esting, having three, instead of the usual two 
beds. I observed to the friendly Ober-Eellner, 
as he ushered me into my quarters, that, as I 
was alone, a smaller room and fewer beds would 
amply accommodate me, but he only replied 
sjiilingly, "Ach! dass machts nichts,'''' and left 
me "alone with my glory." 

Here the feather-bed covering reappeared, 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 181 

which I had not seen for some time, and even 
then not quite in the present guise, for here 
there was literally no other covering except the 
sheet. In the cool, equab'e climate of this re- 
gion, the funny, exaggerated cushions are by 
no means uncomfortable, even in summer, though 
exceedingly difficult to keep properly adjusted, 
during the "silent midnight watches." 

I sleep well and rise next morning eager to 
delight my eyes with the beautiful prospect. 
On looking from my window, I find the street 
so narrow that I have to make an effort to see 
persons on the other side below, though I am 
only in the second story ; but it would be very 
easy to converse with my neighbors on the cor- 
responding floor across the way. 

I go down and prepare for an exploration. 
For some time, English-speaking persons have 
been growing rare and rarer, and now I find 
that there is no one in the house , nor probably 
in the place, who uses my native tongue. This 
gives me a rather peculiar sensation and tends 
to foster extreme deliberation on my part, as I 
strive to cogitate in German. 

The road past the inn-door, goes on almost 
perpendicularly up a hill, on the summit of 
which looms the lofty, ducal Sckloss, occupied 
by His Grace usually only in the shooting-season. 
It contains numerous mementoes of the Empress 
Maria Theresa, in the way of books, pictures 
and so forth. It is a lordly building of yellow- 
ish stone and, both from its position and its 
archil ecture, is very commanding. 

To reach it, one passes the stately old Rath- 
Ilaus into which five balls are built to commem- 
orate the bombardment by Wallenstein, during 
the Thirty Years War. 
Ll l avoid the abrupt ascent and go around by 



182 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

easy stages to another beautiful eminence, which 
I learn rejoices in the suggestive name of the 
Schnappenberg. 

This is an almost level plateau most attract- 
ively laid out in walks and groves. I find a seat 
under a spreading tree and gaze oS over the 
lovely scene. Far down below are the pictur- 
esque slopes dotted with elegant and tasteful 
homes, and blossoming in a riot of color. The 
clean, tidy, irregular streets wind in and out 
and echo to the steps of smiling people and the 
merry shouts of children. 

To the north from across the valley, rises the 
Regenstein, a precipitous cliff two hundred and 
forty feet above the plain. Here may be seen 
the remnants of an ancient castle, standing out 
distinctly in the clear sunshine, its old walls 
sadly demolished and, indeed, little left of it 
except some vaults and embrasures hewn in the 
solid rock. As long ago as 918, this fortress 
was erected by Henry the Fowler, and for cen- 
turies successfully resisted the attacks of ene- 
mies, but it was finally reduced by Frederick 
the Great, and conquering time has done the rest. 

On another side, the Ziegenkopf lifts up its 
bulk thickly covered with dense timber. On its 
very apex rises one of the present Emperor's 
watch-towers, a lofty, solidly built erection, 
which may possibly become one of the "ruins" 
to be noted generations hence. 

Not a peak nor a cavern nor a waterfall in 
this vicinity, but has its store of legends and, 
as I drop my eyes to the little book of Harzsagen 
in my hand, I see the familiar names repeated 
on every page, usually in connection with a 
beautiful, unfortunate princess and her lover, a 
valiant and splendid young prince ; for in the 
olden day, even before the "gentle Will" had 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 183 

said it, it was as true as now that, "All the 
world loves a lover." 

There was some subtile charm about this 
pretty town that made me loth to leave it, but 
the Broeken unattained still loomed ahead, so I 
bade adieu to my aifable hosts, in my best Han- 
overian German, (which, I fear however, was not 
properly appreciated in this district of dialects,) 
and, taking train, still set my face heavenward. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The next stage of my journey was made in a 
delightful observation-car somewhat larger 
than the ordinary continental carriage. It 
seemed more like a spacious, movable piazza, 
than a public conveyance. The sides, furnished 
with curtains adjustable at will, were entirely 
open except for a low wall about a yard high, in 
which was a gate for entrance on each side; the 
top formed a sort of canopy ; a long seat ran 
across the two ends, facing each other, and two 
more ran back to back down the middle, on each 
side of a round table that was fixed in the cen- 
ter. There was plenty of room and every oppor- 
tunity for outlook. 

Our ascent was slow and gradual; now passing 
over slopes of verdant hue embroidered in bril- 
liant wild flowers, now entering stretches of 
forest where the golden sunshine but filtered 
down through the close-set leaves and branches. 
Yet nowhere is that wild look that we see in 
like districts in America ; everywhere there 
seemed to be homes, rustic and humble enough, 
it might be, but still places to live, while every- 
thing had an air of having been in use a long 
•time. 

The fields, the roadways, the cliffs, the ra- 
vines, were ablaze everywhere with a splendor 
of golden color from a vigorous shrub that 
seemed to toss aloft its arms in joy and beam 
radiantly forth upon the world, with its millions 
of yellow blossoms. A kindly lady, noticing my 
interest, told me that this plant was called (xm- 

184 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 185 

star ; I am sorry to say that this name did not 
satisfy me at all ; I should have expected some- 
thing more suggestive from the resourceful 
German people. 

Occasionally we come out upon a reach of 
level plateau where nestles some little village of 
Ted-roofed cottages. We pass a stalactite cave 
that has been known for centuries, and another 
cavern opened recently which is remarkable for 
the number and variety of fossil remains found 
within. 

Presently we ascend a mill-valley with very 
curious rock formations, and finally quit the 
train at Rothehuette, for the remainder of the 
ascent is ^uade by horse-carriage. The road is 
kept in excellent condition and for a while we 
roll on through a pleasant-looking country with 
fair, cultivated fields wherein women, old and 
young, and children of all sizes are toiling, 
rarely a man. 

Beautiful shade trees relieve the landscape 
and frequent, tiny villages come into view, of 
antiquated and picturesque characteristics. The 
highest is Hoppe, a scattered hamlet very popu- 
ular as a resort, for all over the Brocken is to be 
found that modern institution, the Summer 
Hotel. 

The contrast between the simple peasant who 
has probably never left his native nook upon the 
mountain-side, and the hlase "resorter," is 
marked and amusing. Numerous waterways 
intercept our path, spanned by rustic bridges. 
Tinkling cascades make music. Cool, green 
shades embosom us. The neighboring rocks as- 
sume grotesque and fanciful forms. The forest 
grows denser and the face of the earth is one 
wild conglomeration of moss-covered boulders 
iStanding at every angle. How our road was 



186 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ever hewn through, must remain a mystery to- 
the feminine mind. 

Here, at one of the narrowest portions, with 
a stream on one hand ai;d the tall trees spring- 
ing from their rocky bed close on the other, we 
meet a descending carriage ; consternation 
seizes on all; women scream and men — ejacu- 
late forcibly. The occupants of the new carri- 
age, being young and agile scramble out, while 
the men unhitch the horses and tilt the vehicle 
in sufh a way that our party is enabled to 
"scrooge'' past, and we heartlessly leave the 
others to their fate as we ascend still higher. 

We are now near the top. Vegetation be- 
comes very scanty near the summit and no trees 
grow, so says our conductor, within one hundred 
and thirty feet from it. 

Soon the great hotel looms up before us, 
black against the western sky. At one side, but 
detached, is a tower of mason-work from which, 
und.er favorable conditions, may be seen the 
domes and spires of Magdeburg, Erfurt, Gotha, 
Cassel, Hanover and Brunswick. A fine vista, 
trul}'', but I had in my mind's eye, the ravishing 
prospect beheld from about the same elevation, 
on Mount Hamilton, California, and this suf- 
fered in comparison ; so I turned my attention to 
the consideration of the mental pictures evolved 
for us so long ago, by Goethe and others of the 
mighty ones in the arena of German poetry and 
song. Here is the "meeting-place" of the 
witches, on Walpurgis Night, made immortal by 
Goethe's vivid word painting. Here are several 
curious and grotesque granite formations, the 
Devil's Pulpit, the Witches' Altar, the Hob- 
goblin's Footstool. Here is the habitat of 
the Brocken's Spectre. 

As the sun sank into his nightly bed and the 
pallid mists of twilight began to sweep up and 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 187 

around the shoulders of the mountain, while that 
peculiar silence wherein there is no chirp of 
bird, no rustle of leaf, no stir of animal, be- 
came more and more impressive as the tourists 
withdrew by degrees into the hostelry, I let my 
fancy run backward to the time before the ma- 
terialization of the "Summer Tripper," and the 
"Holiday Excursionist," when here the old 
Brocken lifted up its head in utter solitude. 

For how many ages did storm and wind and 
cloud, and all the forces of nature, hold revel 
about this hoary crown? Not strange is it, that 
the untutored mountaineer, gazing upward from 
below at the conflicts of the elements, should 
have discerned therein the voices and the move- 
ments of supernatural beings? Hardy indeed 
was he who would venture to brave a closer 
proximity, by clambering into these lofty areas. 
But two lines of daily stages with their hilar- 
ious loads of vacation parties, make short work 
of sentiment, and the mystic mystery of the 
spot is gone forever. 

I retired to my room in pensive mood, almost 
hoping that some wandering sprite of the olden 
ages, might float into my vicinity, for are not 
such immortal? I awoke in the morning to look 
out upon an ocean of mist wherein we were shut 
off from all visible connection with our mun- 
dane sphere ; but I had been visited by no spec- 
ters, no witches, and had seen nothing of a more 
startling nature than a collection of brilliantly 
red matches with orange tips, which certainly 
did seem allied to regions of sulphurous and 
fiery character. 

A little later we were driving away through 
tile enveloping fog, which gradr.ally disappeared 
as we descended into the valley, and I again re- 
turned to Blankenburg, from whence I resumed 
my tour of this interesting country. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The valley of the Bode, the grandest point in 
the Hartz Mountains, is reached from Blanken- 
burgby a daily char-a-hanc, or picnic-wagon, to 
Thale. Under the continuance of the clear 
June sunshine, I entered the vehicle one day 
and rode along the fair slopes and stretches lying 
between the two places. 

The carriage highways through this part of 
the country are excellent, being hard, smooth 
and, where the lay of the land permits, broad. 

A smiling, peaceful scene it was, through 
which we passed on this beautiful morning; 
realizing on the one side, a perfect ideal of a pasto- 
ral landscape, while on the other, to the left, rises 
a very remarkable series of huge, irregular 
masses of sandstone, known as the "Devil's 
Wall." 

These do not form a plateau, but are thrust 
up through the turf in broken lines ; now ris- 
ing singly and in thin, flat-sided, jagged forms 
and again in fanciful shapes of considerable 
bulk, which are named as mediaeval imagination 
suggested, as the "King's Chair," the "Giant's 
Table," and so forth. These all spring up ab- 
ruptly, penetrating the green earth which lies 
smooth and unbroken on either side, so that the 
whole formation has indeed the semblance of a 
gigantic wall, through which some enemy has 
made innumerable and irreparable breaches. 

Every point is legend-haunted, of course, 
while the wall itself is accounted for by the tale 
that the devil, having been outwitted in certain 

188 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 189 

transactions between himself and the good bur- 
ghers of Blankenburg, and being thereby con- 
vinced that they were, in modern parlance, "too 
many for him," resolved to build a v^all between 
that special quarter of the country where he was 
able to get the better of the simple folk, and 
that of the proud Blankenburgians who had 
presumed to overmaster his plans and had even 
dared to jeer at him as "the stupid devil." 

So, attended by his unholy crew, he began op- 
erations at night, and great progress was made 
in the darkness. But> as the narrator quaintly 
remarks, "What good was it? Whatever was 
built at night, at day-break fell in pieces again 
as soon as the morning sun shone thereupon ; 
and no matter how much and how sorely they 
wearied themselves to build all firm and secure, 
they found when they would continue the next 
night that all their work was fallen down and 
shattered." At length did the despairing devil 
give over his attempt to divide "God's King- 
dom" by walls and rocks, but the testimony of 
his impious undertaking is yet seen in the 
rent and ragged ruins which are standing to- 
day, between Blankenburg and Thale. 

When we reached the charming village of 
Thale we found ourselves directly at the foot of 
the towering entrance to the Bode-Thal, through 
which plunges a roaring river guarded on either 
hand by bold precipices covered with a heavy 
growth of forest trees and shrubs. Midway up, 
and on the top of these heights, is situated 
many a comfortable inn of more or less preten- 
tions. 

The Iioss-T7-ap2}e, a great, granite rock, here 
projects bastion-like into the dale, and rises ab- 
ruptly to a height of six hundred and fifty feet. 
Beautiful is the view obtained from its summit. 



190 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

A singular impression here in the roclty surface, 
resembling a gigantic hoof-print, is said to have 
been left by the steed, or liofs, of a lovely young 
princess who leaped across the valley at this 
point to es-cape the pursuit of an ogre who had 
singled her out for his victim. In her terrible 
spring, she lost from her head her golden crown, 
(for, of course, no self-respecting princess would 
appear without her crown,) which fell into the 
abyss below and is, in its turn, the central figure 
of many legends. 

Numerous are the picturesque drives all 
around in this neighborhood, supplemented by 
footpaths leading on where vehicles may not fol- 
low, into entrancing regions of woodland and out 
on to the heights above. 

Another "Witches Dancing-Place," more pic- 
turesque but not so weird &s that of the Brock- 
en, lies opposite the Boss-Trapjje, than which it 
is two hundred and ten feet higher. The whole 
vicinity is indeed most interesting and, to one 
who enters into sympathy with the people and 
gathers up the folk-lore of the environment, it 
furnishes a w^onderful store of memories. 

Modern customs and conveniences, however, 
are by no means unknown in this charming sec- 
tion. Directly opposite the station, across the 
wide boulevard, is a splendid villa standing in 
an enchanting park where fountain, flower, fo- 
liage and winding way vie with each other in 
promoting the delight and refreshment of the 
visitor. This place, having the singular name 
of the "Ten Pound Hotel," is but one of several 
equally attractive though perhaps not on so mag- 
nificent a scale. 

Time failed then to permit me to enjoy, a^ it 
does now to recount, all the charms of the local- 
ity, so, reluctantly turning away from the rocks 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 191 

;and crags and bowery nooks, I took the train 
for Berlin, 

The face of the country changes abruptly in 
this direction, and leaving behind me the cas- 
tled cliffs and rocky dells, I sped on through a 
valley as level as some of our great, western 
plains, arriving at my destination with nothing 
more eventful than a change at Magdeburg; 
v^^hich brought to raiad the "Magdeburg Hem- 
ispheres," over which I puzzled in my early 
■school-days, little thinking I should myself ever 
be within the confines of the venerable city of 
their origin. The air-pump and hemispheres with 
which Otto von Guericke made his first experi- 
ments, are still preserved in the Royal Library 
at Berlin. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Berlin, the capital of Prussia and the 
residence of the German Emperor, is now a city 
of nearly seventeen hundred thousand inhabi- 
tants, including its garrison of twenty thousand 
soldiers. 

Nature has done little for this locality in the 
way of the picturesque, it being simply an im- 
mense, sandy plain only one hundred and ten 
feet above the level of the sea. But the region 
is well-watered and has an intimate connection 
by rail with all parts of the continent, and by 
navigable rivers with northeast Germany and 
Poland, and is said to be one of the foremost 
seats of commerce and perhaps the greatest 
manufacturing town in continental Europe. 

Its situation on its serpentine river, suggests 
the old conundrum, "Why is Berlin, of neces- 
sity, the most dissipated of cities?" Answer: 
"Because it is, and always will be, continually 
on the Spree." But the Germans craftily evade 
this imputation, by pronouncing the name 
"Spray," so that the point of the joke is lost as 
soon as you reach Deutschland. The traffic upon 
this river and its canals is said to be even busier 
than that of the Rhine. 

One notes again in Berlin the lack of height 
in the noble edifices one sees on all sides. The 
royal palaces and museums, opera-house, na- 
tional gallery, university, new houses of parlia- 
ment, arsenal and other beautiful buildings, are 
all comparatively low and broad; most of them 
having a suggestion of the classic in their con- 

192 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 193 

ception, though the forms of the Renaissance 
are also popular, while there is mainly a freedom 
from excessive ornamentation, that is pleasingly 
effective. 

Berlin, I am told, is yet in a transition state. 
Not until after the wars of 1866, '70 and ' 71, 
and the consolidation still later of the numerous 
provincial governments into one comprehensive 
imperial aiithority, did the city take its most 
deci^ive strides toward becoming what it now is, 
one of the great capitals of the world. 

The place is beautifully clean, the water and 
lighting systems excellent, and on the whole, 
while thi^ metropolis may, perhaps, suffer some- 
what in comparison with some of the older cap- 
itals of Europe, yet it has a distinct charm of 
its own that will constantly increase as improve- 
ments and adornments go on. 

The Thiergarten, which, as it translates "an- 
imal garden," I at first supposed to be a 
zoological inclosure, is a very extensive wooded 
park, really a cultivated forest, covering more 
than six hundred acres. It was originally a part 
of the Royal Preserves. The northern boundary 
is the River Spree, which lends itself effectively 
to the attractiveness of the place. Many little 
sheets of water dotted with tiny islets, lying in 
the shadows of the venerable foiest trees and 
spanned by rustic or more ornate bridges, add 
infinite charm to the sylvan space. 

Works of art are also scattered about through 
its area. Exquisite statues in white marble, of 
Queen Louise, by Encke, and of Frederick Will- 
iam III, by Drake, stand not far from each 
other in bowers of greenery and surrounded by 
^vdiCeixxl jardinieres and slender trellises of flow- 
ering plants. Many other fine specimens of the 
plastic art might be mentioned but the beauties 



194 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

of these two are especially enhanced by their 
exquisite setting within the verdant wood. Re- 
markably impressive figures of Goethe in marble 
and of Lessing in bronze face the Koeniggraet- 
zer Street, on the eastern limit of the park. 

Cutting through the Tkiergarten from north 
to soutii, is the broad Avenue of Victory, one of 
the most fashionable promenades of Berlin. In 
the northern extremity, in the center of beau- 
tiful "King's Pla(!e," an extensive square 
adorned with flowers, fountains and statuary, 
rises the Monument of Victory, two hundred 
feet in height, standing on a circular terrace 
approached by eight steps of granite. 

This is a wonderful composition commemorat- 
ing the great triumphs of 1870-71 and earlier cam- 
paigns. The massive square pedestal is adorned 
with exceedingly fine reliefs in bronze, each 
group presenting a vivid picture of some thril- 
ling scene in German warfare. The suggestive 
pathos in face and attitude of many of these 
figures, is most appealing, and brought tears to 
the eyes of the writer, though an alien and a 
stranger. Space forbids detailed description, 
but one peculiar feature may be mentioned, con- 
sisting of three rows of cannon, sixty in all, 
captured from Danes, Austrians and French, 
now placed lengthwise on the great column, 
just above its flutings of yellowish gray sand- 
stone. A colossal Borussia^ or Prussia, forty- 
eight feet tall, surmounted by an outspread eagle 
in gilded bronze, crowns the monument which is 
truly an imposing and magnificent creation. 

In ''King's Place" also is situated the beau- 
tifully stately new edifice, the Hall of the Im- 
perial Diet, which occupies an area of fourteen 
thousand square yards. 

To the north, "King's Place" leads into 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 195 

*'Alsen Place" also lovely with beauties of na- 
ture and art. 

At the southern extremity of the Avenue of 
Victory, stands the Wrangel fountain in a wide 
square, tree-bordered, and fitted out with com- 
fortable seats past which an array of glittering 
vehicles unceasingly rolls. 

Running through the Thiergarten from east 
to west and directly at right angles to the 
Avenue of Victory, lies the Charlottenburg road, 
another wide, ornamental boulevard, leading out 
to the suburb of same name and to the royal 
palace where Emperor Frederick III. spent ten 
weeks of his last illness. In the pleasant and 
extensive garden, or park as we should term it, 
surrounding this palace, and at some little dis- 
tance from it, through shaded and quiet ways 
stands the widely famed mausoleum erected by 
Goetz, in the Doric style. Here, beneath beau- 
tiful life-size, full-length, reclining marble por- 
trait-figures, repose the mortal remains of King 
Frederick William III., his lovely consort. 
Queen Louise, their son, Emperor William I. 
and his empress, Augusta. The adornments of 
this snowy chamber are simple and chaste in the 
extreme, yet marvelous in effectiveness. A soft, 
purplish light falls through the stained glass of 
a single casement above the entrance, and 
faintly illumines the silent figures with subdued 
radiance. And thpre they lie in unostentatious 
majesty, until time, regardless alike of all 
beauty, animate or inanimate, shall work his 
will upon their unresisting forms. 

I dare say that most persons hearing of Ber- 
lin, picture to themselves the charms of the 
famous avenue, '■'■ITnter den Linden.'''' I must 
own to sad disappointment in this historic 
street; many others in the city are far finer. 



196 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

True, its associations are most interesting and, 
I presume, in an earlier day, before the era of 
"modern improvements," it was something to 
be particularly noted. To be sure, the avenue 
is one hundred and ninety-six feet wide, it is 
flanked by handsome and spacious palaces, ho- 
tels, trade-emporiums and public buildings ; 
here are the French and Russian Embassies and 
other important governmental offices ; but it is 
comparatively short, is dusty and untidy, while 
the two insignificant rows of scrubby little trees 
extending partially down its center, are poor 
representatives of the noble arborage in some 
other portions of the city. 

The space between these rows of trees, in- 
tended for the pleasure of the pedestrian, in- 
stead of being neatly turfed, with cement or as- 
phalt walks through the midst, as, for instance, 
in Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, is simply 
loose dirt, which is shuffled up in all directions 
by the wayfarer, to rise in clouds of dust all 
about. 

The Brandenburg Gate, which forms the wes- 
tern terminus, is not at all imposing, being too 
low for its breadth and looking as if made from 
dirty putty. The lower end of the avenue is 
more satisfactory. Here is the masterly statue 
in bronze, by Rauch, of Frederick the Great, on 
the right of which is the plain but massive and 
now unoccupied palace of William I., and on the 
left the academy and the buildings of the Uni- 
versity, situated in pleasant grounds shaded by 
a grove of fine chesnuts. 

Again on the other side, the Royal Opera 
House, Royal Guard-house, the unpretentious 
palace of Emperor Frederick III., where his 
widow, Queen Victoria's daughter, resides, and 
the arsenal, follow in quick succession, forming 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 197 

a pleasing though by no means imposing pros- 
pect. Of all these, the arsenal is the most 
ornate and is one of the finest buildings in Ber- 
lin. A striking feature of this, is the adorn- 
ment, if it may be properly termed such, upon 
the keystones of the window arches of the inner 
quadrangle, with sculptured heads of expiring 
warriors in every variety of agonized expression, 
depicted in the most realistic manner. 

Leading off from Unter den Linden toward 
the south, is a beautiful arched passage, the 
Kaiser-Gallerie, glass roofed and richly deco- 
rated in terracotta, in the style of the Renais- 
sance. This is one of the busiest and handsom- 
est arcades in Europe, I am told, though not the 
largest. The display of goods is similar to that 
along the colonnades of the Rue de Rivoli, in 
Paris, and the locality has the further advantage 
of being entirely protected from the weather. 

Berlin has many handsome and massive stone 
bridges which are really works of art in more 
ways than one, being ornamented with fine 
statues and groups in bronze and marble, both 
of mythologic and historic subjects, all wrought 
and finished in a highly artistic style. 

Over one of these, the Schloss Br^iecke, we 
cross to the eastern prolongation of the "Lin- 
den," and find on the left a lovely, spacious 
square of nearly fifty thousand square yards. 
Large shade trees here form a beautiful grove 
branching over emerald turf and brilliant flow- 
ers. In the center is a fine statue of Frederick 
William III. This place is called the Lustyarten^ 
and was originally the pleasure garden of the 
Royal Palace, which fronts it on the south 
across the avenue. The square is inclosed on 
the east and north by the former cathedral and 
the Old Museum ; in front of the steps of the 



198 ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 

latter, is a curiosity in the shape of a pon- 
derous granite basin said to be twenty-two feet 
in diameter and seventy-five tons in weight, 
having been hewn from a solid block of ten 
times the weight. As I looked at it, half a 
dozen small Deutscher laddies with little bare 
feet and well-ventilated garments, were trying 
to scramble inside of the huge hollow. 

The Royal Palace, official residence of the 
reigning sovereign, is located upon an island in 
the midst of the city, formed by a division of 
the Spree into two arms at this point which is 
reached from the west, as noted before, by the 
Schloss-Bruecke, while, going eastward, one 
passes over Emperor William's Bridge to the 
Boerse, or exchange ; this, by the way, was the 
first modern building of Berlin executed in stone 
instead of brick. The palace is huge and im- 
pressive in a solid, severe style, with nothing 
particularly remarkable either in point of age or 
architecture. The oldest part was erected by 
Elector Frederick II., in 1443-51. His various 
successors have added or altered and pulled 
down, until the time of Frederick, the first king 
of Prussia, who desired to replace the irregular 
pile by a uniform structure of imposing propor- 
tions. This project, however has never been 
completely carried out, and from 1716 to about 
1845, comparatively trifling changes were 
made. 

From that time to the present, exterior and in- 
terior alike have been undergoing a gradual 
process of renovation. Connected with this 
palace is a ghostly apparition known as the 
Wei.sse Fran, or "White Lady, " whose appear- 
ance in the castle occasionally, exactly at the 
midnight hour, is reckoned to be always a harb- 
inger of death to some member of the House of 
Hohenzollern. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 193 

Fronting the principal facade of the Royal 
Palace, is the colossal bronze figure of William 
I., recently unveiled, the accessories of which 
are yet unfinished. When complete, with its 
semi- circle of statuesque adjuncts abutting on 
the river below, it will suggest the decoration 
and general effect, though on a smaller scale, of 
the Place de la Concoru'e in Paris. 

In the line of antique structures, Berlin is 
rather deficient, those it does possess not being 
particularly remarkable or ancient. 

In ihe Kloster Street is a gymnasium founded 
in 1514, containing some chambers of an old 
monastery dating from fouiteen hundred and 
seventy -four, that are still in a fair state of 
preservation. 

St. Nicholas Church is, I believe, the oldest 
sacred edifice in Berlin, although as it now 
stands it has many later additions to the original 
building. The square blocks of granite forming 
the bases of the two towers, date from the be- 
ginning of the thirteenth, the choir from the 
fourteenth, and the nave from the fifteenth 
century. Marien Church, built at the end ()f 
the thirteenth, and restored in the fourteenth 
century, is noteworthy as being the second 
parish-church of Old Berlin. Its peculiar Gothic 
spire, however, was added in 1796. In front of 
the principal entrance is the expiatory cross for 
the murder of the Provost of Bernau in the begin- 
ning of the fourteenth century. 

There are a large number of fine sacred struc- 
tures dating all along from the year 1840 to the' 
present day ; one, the most modern and splen- 
did of all, is the Memorial Church to Emperor 
William I. It was in one of these modern, 
churchts that I listened to what my program 
styled(in German Ittters) a GeistUche Konzert^ 



200 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

which I blunderingly translated, as a "ghostly- 
concert," forgetting for the moment that geist- 
liohe is "spiritual" and" spiritual" is "sacred;" 
but it was truly enjoyable, whatever it might be 
called. 

The old cathedral has been pulled down and 
on its site a splendid new one is building. 
They have a queer fashion here of entirely in- 
closing any building in process of erection, with 
great walls as high as the main parts of the con- 
templated structure, inside of which only the 
workmen are admitted, and which completely 
hide all operations from the outside public. At 
the corner of King street and the "Long Bridge," 
abutting on the river and just west of the statue 
of the Great Elector, is such an enclosure, and 
I passed it many a time with curious eyes; 
through chance crevices, or some occasionally 
swinging door, now and then I could get a 
glimpse of outlines of rare beauty and of decora- 
tions wrought out in fine stone and marble. 
Often did 1 inquire what this edifice might be, 
but strange to say, no one could tell me. Finally 
one day I resolved not to be baffled and, as I 
came to the spot in my daily walk, I turned into 
the large semi-circular area about the old Elec- 
tor and, pacing back and forth for about half an 
hour, I accosted every pedesti'ian who came along. 
Among these was one couple, a lady and gentle- 
man who evidently were tourists like myself ; 
they were sauntering along, Bnedaker in hand, 
and gazing here and there after the fashion of 
•strangers in a strange land. They could give 
me no information but we got into a pleasant 
chat during which I was much puzzled to place 
the nationality of my interlocutors. I had never 
heard English spoken in quite their peculiar 
:Style. They certainly were not German nor 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 201 

French nor Scandinavian, — what were they? 
Could it be possible that they were English? I 
had met many English persons, but never 
any who spoke thus ; still, I had not then been 
to England,and possibly, — no, it was impossible ; 
no cultivated English tongue could ever twist 
its own mother-speech into such accents. It 
was only by the closest attention that I was 
able to understand. They were very friendly and 
had evidently seen much of the world. Finally, 
as I was about to turn away, the gentleman said : 

"You are not English, I think?" 

"No," I replied, "American." 

"Ah — h!" rejoined the gentleman, with a 
pleasant smile, "Yes, thy speech bewray eth 
thee." 

"Well!" I mentally exclaimed, "Thy speech 
bewrayeth thee, too ; unfortunately not quite 
enough, however, to satisfy me ; I wish I could 
know your country." 

But before I had opportunity to voice my de- 
sire, he went on : 

"Yes, I noticed you spoke differently from us; 
we are from Edinburg; but you speak well, very 
well indeed; we could understand you perfectly. 
Very pleased we met you ; hope we shall see you 
again." 

And with mutual bow^s and compliments, we 
separated, each marveling at the speech of the 
other. 

But I had not found out about the new build- 
ing. Of the twenty or more parsers by of whom 
I inquired, three, though native Germans, were 
strangers to the city; two besides the Scotch 
tourist and his wif^^,were foreigners; six seemed 
to be just ordinary citizens, male and female; 
one was a porter; another a soldier; one a 
baker's boy; and the rest ware children, boys 



202 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

and girls of varying ages. Every one had essen- 
tially the same answer: 

'^Achl Dass kann ich nicht scigen, meine 
Dame,^' which, being interpreted, declared that 
nobody knew. Imagine such a state of things in 
an American community. My national, investi- 
gating spirit was subdued; 1 gave it up. When 
you go there, O, solitary sister, do you straight- 
way betake yourself to that quarter and find out 
for me the desire of my soul. The shrouding 
timbers may then have been torn away and the 
structure within be known unto men and women, 
in free and open exhibition. 

Not very far from the Royal Opera House 
and the ' Linden" lies Schiller Place, an exten- 
sive area wherein are found several noble build- 
ings; of these, the French Church, the New 
Church and the Schiller Theater, are considered 
the finest architectural group in Berlin. In 
front of the Theater's principal entrance, stands 
a fine figure of Schiller and the whole area is 
lovely with trees and flow'ers. This group is 
particularly beautiful by moonlight; though, in 
making this statement, I resemble Walter Scott, 
if it be true, as declared, that he had never seen 
"fair Melrose" at night, when he wrote that to 
view it "aright" one must, 

"Go visit it by pale moonlight," 

yet he spake truly, for all that, and so do I. 

While I find this city very pleasing, I have 
one fault to find with the Berliners and with 
Germans in general, so far as I have observed 
over here, and that is that they do not, like the 
French, throw open their pleasant little park* 
and gardens, as a rule, to the public, nor do they 
provide so many resting-places for the wayfar- 
ing man, woman or child. True, the public is 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 203 

permitted to walk through and sometimes a seat 
will be observed, but usually a high, iron rail- 
ing divides off the pleasant and shady, leafy 
retreats, and often there is no entrance allowed 
into the interiors at all, even for a stroll, as in 
Leipziyer Flatz\ of course, there are excep- 
tions; noticeably here, the Thiergarten^'^'\\\\%\YO. 
and Alexander Places and a few others. In 
French gardens there are very few railings, and 
those are usually about some bed of delicate 
plants, or the like, while seats are everywhere. 

Very odd names may be noted upon the vari- 
ous signs and placards of a German city, partic- 
ularly so if lifted over bodily into their 
equivalent English. Fancy accosting anyone 
by the name of Mr. Nodding-goose, Mr. Big- 
head, Mr. Sweet-and-good, Mr. Gas-pipe, or a 
polished gentleman as Mr. Blood-sausage. 

Some of the streets also have odd names when 
translated, as Bone-hewer, Big-berry, Young- 
fellow or Invalid Street,Forsaken Way, Wedding 
Place, and so forth ; there is in Germany, too, 
a queer fashion of naming a thoroughfare by a 
phrase, as "To the Station" Street, ''Behind the 
Catholic Church"Street,"On the Is.land"Street. 
and the like. One day I was startled to notice 
"Holy Ghost" Street, but soon saw this was only 
meant as short for "Holy Ghost Church" Street. 
I am told that here in Prussia, the national 
Government regulates municipal affairs in many 
departments. While the city may nominate, it 
cannot confirm its choice for mayor, the govern- 
ment does that ; it also names all streets and pub- 
lic squares and no change can be made in any 
nomenclature without governmental assent 

Berlin is not chary in her recognition of pub- 
lic men. In every square or locality of any im- 
portance, may be seen statues of more or less 



204 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

pretentions, to the memory of some general, 
philosopher, scientist, poet or otherwise fa- 
mous personage. 

The art-collections of Berlin are compara- 
tively inferior in importance, consisting largely 
of casts and copies and comprising few master- 
pieces or originals of worth, though I believe the 
Pergamenian sculptures acquired in 1879, and 
one or two other collections purchased since, are 
really valuable. 

Though I cannot expect even to allude to the 
major part of Berlin's characteristics, I will 
mention in closing, the circular Belle- Alliance 
Place into which three great avenues converge 
and which is laid out as a garden, in the center 
of which rises the fine "Column of Peace," 
placed here in 1840 to commemorate the peace 
of 1815. Four marble groups representing the 
four principal powers that participated in the 
decisive struggle, surround the column, which 
is crowned with a "Victory," by Rauch. On 
the south side of the Place, a flight of steps as- 
cends from the street and is adorned by allego- 
rical figures in white marble. Opposite the top 
of the stairway and leading to the river, is 
Halle Gate, a monumental portal decorated with 
figures of the four seasons. 

Berlin is remarkably well supplied with facil- 
ities for intramural transportation, though I 
saw but one electric line, and that running away 
out from the heart of the city, as seems to be 
the custom in large tow^ns abroad. The con- 
ductors and drivers of the trams and 'buses, 
wear a very pretty uniform of light fawn-color, 
set off with leaf-green collars and ornaments ; 
this is varied on hot days by "continuations" of 
white duck, which somehow they manage to 
keep in very fresh condition. The uniform of 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 205 

the foresters, or, as we would call them, the 
park-police, is also very tasteful, consisting of 
rather wide trousers, a double-breasted, some- 
what full-skirted coat and a wide-rimmed, quite 
high-crowned hat, all of a soft gray-green re- 
lieved with cords and frogs of a slightly deeper 
tinge, and a feather of the same in the hat. As 
for policeman in general, and soldiers, their 
costumes are glittering and varied beyond de- 
scription and show to good advantage on the 
almost universally fine physique of the North 
German citizen. 

These large cities abroad are usually well 
supplied with postal facilities of various sorts, 
but Berlin, I am informed, has, in addition to 
more ordinary conveniences, a system of Pneu- 
matic Tubes for the rapid transmission of tele- 
grams, letters and postal cards from one part to 
another of the city, including Charlottenburg. 
The places for deposit and delivery, are called 
Pneumatic Post-Offlces, and letters or packets 
must not exceed a certain size and weight. 

Postage on letters is about seven, and on cards 
about five cents. 



CHAPTER XXIIT. 

A hasty visit to Potsdam accompanied by a 
"lone sister" whom I encountered atmj pe>ision, 
(which, by the way, i? kept by a von, the low- 
est rank of German nobility,) could not, of 
course, serve to grain a very thorough knowledge 
of this great suburb of Berlin, but so far as it 
went, it was very interesting. 

The weather was charming; the distance 
about half an hour's ride; and, as I had never 
yet been in a third class carriage, we concluded 
to take this grade and found it to be very like a 
large street-car in style and finish. The com- 
partment-walls reached only about three-fourths 
of the distance between floor and ceiling, and 
each compartment opened into the next without 
any intervening doors, though each had doors 
on each side for entrance and exit, as usual. 
The seats and floors were bare, the former of 
varnished slats, as in a tram, and all was clean 
and comfortable, the rate being very cheap, 
about twenty-five cents for the round trip. 

Potsdam, though a suburb, has fifty-five 
thousand inhabitants and a garrison of seven 
thousand soldiers. It is situated on a large 
island in the Havel, which is-land abounds in 
lakes and wooded hills. 

The town first came into prominence in the 
time of the "Great Elector," who did much for 
the place, founding here his park and garden ; 
its later importance arose a hundred years after, 
under Frederick the Great, whose favorite resi- 
dence was at Potsdam. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 207 

One enters the main town over the Long 
Bridge, a remarltably handsome, finely decorated 
structure, that ieads directly to the Royal Pal- 
ace, so called ; though, as there "re several other 
Roj^al Palaces here, within walking distance of 
each other, it strikes me that the definite article 
is rather misapplied. 

After leaving the bridge, we pass an old lin- 
den, much bepropped and protected, under 
which, it is said, petitioners used to station 
themselves to attract the notice of Frederick the 
G-reat. 

The spacious pleasure-garden to the south of 
the palace, is inclosed in two rows of columns 
surmounted by a series of statues, groups and 
the like. This palace was erected in 1670. but 
re-constructed in 1750 by Frederick the Great, 
whose rooms here are preserved in good condi- 
tion. There is much tj be seen that is very in- 
teresting, but I must be brief and will allude to 
but one or two features. 

In the apartments of Frederick William I , 
are a few pictures of his majesty's own painting 
under peculiar circumstances, that is, while suf- 
fering from an attack of the gout. The library 
of the palace is separated from the bedroom of 
Frederick the Great, only by a massive silver 
balustrade. Adjoining the library is a cabinet 
with double doors, from which a dining-table 
could be let down by means of a trap-door, and 
where the king might dine with his friends, at 
will, without danger of being spied upon by his 
attendants. 

The town contains many fine public buildings, 
both sacred and secular, and the streets seem 
mostly wide and pleasant". Here also is a 
Brandenburg Gate, more effective than the one 
in Berlin. 



208 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

We have time to visit but one church and we 
select the Friedenkirche, an edifice in the early 
Christian Basilica style, completed in 1850, con- 
taining the burial vaults of Frederick William 
IV. and his queen, Elizabeth, also of the 
Emperor Fredtrick III. 

The church stands apart from the busy high- 
way and is surrounded with much verdure and 
bowery greenery. We enter at a little side door 
and, treading over the velvety turf of a shaded 
inclosure, we step around a side wall and come 
into a quadrangle shut in by arcades, where we 
are confronted by the bell-tower, one hundred 
and thirty feet high. Still farther on beyond 
the cloisters, we enter an atrium or "paradise" 
containing Rauch's Group of Moses and a copy 
of Thorwaldsen's Eisen Christ. Then turning,, 
we pass into the interior of the basilica, the 
roof of which is supported by sixteen Ionic col- 
umns in black marble. Some fine sculptures are 
within, and the recumbent figure of Emperor 
Frederick III., is especially good. 

The marble forms lie on immovable and they 
all seem to be indeed very far from any vital 
interest ; we do not quite understand why Fred- 
erick III. is placed here by the side of his uncle, 
and so remote from his father and mother. 
Frederick the Great and Frederick William I., 
his father, are buried in the Garrison Church. 

We do not tarry long but step out from the 
cool silence again into the "garish light of 
day," and return to the green bowers and high- 
way road, passing the "Great Fountain" which 
later on is seen in full play, mounting to a 
height of one hundred and thirty feet. 

We reach a broad flight of steps sixty feet 
high, intersected by six terraces, in the top one 
of which are buried the grayhounds of Frederick 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 209 

the Great. Crossing the last terrace, we come 
to the entrance of the Palace of Sans Souci, the 
favorite and almost constant residence of this 
monarch. 

His rooms are preserved unaltered and contain 
many interesting relics of the erratic yet illus- 
trious sovereign and of his famous contempor- 
aries. In a room once occupied for some weeks 
by Voltaire, are some very odd and rather ugly 
wood-carvings and embroideries. Room after 
room are we conducted through, which have all 
been used for the varied needs of life by the 
great King, but now "empty, swept and gar- 
nished." We are shown his spinet, flute, 
music, books, bed, the clock that he always 
wound and that stopped — as clocks of illustrious 
beings seem to have a way of doing, — at the 
moment of its owner's death, the chair in which 
he died and the like. How is it, I wonder, that 
so many of the world's celebrities of ancient 
date, died in chairs, instead of comfortably in 
their beds? 

One room which impressed me most, was a 
long gallery, one side of which was glass, look- 
ing out upon the park, and where the king used 
to pace up and down in his later years, accom- 
panied by his greyhounds. I could seem to see 
the irascible old man, in the grotesque dress of 
the period, traveling to and fro, chafing impo- 
tently at the infirmities that set to his activities 
a limit which even he could not overstep. 

It makes history seem very real to visit these 
places, yet it is but a melancholy satisfaction, 
after all, giving one the feeling that every one 
is dead and gone, and causing one to reflect in 
the words of the Psalmist: "How shall thy ser- 
vant stand before Thee, 0, Lord?" and "What 
is man that Thou art mindful of him?" 



210 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The extensive domain about is very pleasant, 
diversified by hill and dale, by pool and foun- 
tain. Some laborers were cutting grass near by 
in the broad meadows, and the air was fragrant 
with perfume. 

Several other royal residences are within con- 
venient distance, by way of lovely avenues 
through the imperial acres. We pass the famovis 
mill which the old owner refused to sell to Fred- 
erick the Great, to that testy monarch's ineff- 
able disgust, but the stubborn man's heirs were 
more tractable and it is now royal property. We 
next visit the Orangery, a comparatively modern 
structure in Florentine style, completed in 1856. 
The Charlotte.nhof, transformed, it is said, from 
a plain country-house to an Italian villa, con- 
tains many memorials of Alexander von Hum- 
boldt. 

All these palaces are crowded with luxuries 
and curious articles of "bigotry and virtue," 
too numerous to name, though I will mention a 
chair of steel and silver, made by Peter the 
Great. To the west of the Park of /Sa/is Soiici, 
rises the summer residence of the present em- 
peror, the palace of Friedrichskron, founded by 
Frederick the Great in 1763, at the tnd of the 
Seven Years War, and completed by him in 1769, 
at a cost of about two and a quarter million 
dollars. Among its beautiful and elegant apart- 
ments is conspicuous the modern "Shell Room," 
a vast chamber inlaid with shells, minerals and 
precious stones, in a most wonderful and taste- 
ful fashion. These objects, we are told, are me- 
mentoes of the visit of William II. (who, by the 
way, is styled the "wandering emperor,") to 
northern Europe. The chamber was seven years 
in construction. 

We were weary now, physically and mentally, 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 211 

and resolved to do no more sight-seeing. As we 
strolled along the fine, winding highway, be- 
neath large forest trees, we espied a placard at 
the beginning of a woodland path, which placard 
bore the legend"To the Dragon's Cafe." This was 
tempting, so we turned aside and scrambled up 
the little hill until we came to a fanciful pavil- 
ion, above the cornices of which fiery dragons 
were snorting defiance to the world at large. 

In spite of their ferocious appearance, we ven- 
tured near and, seating ourselves at a little 
table under a leafy tree, were promptly served 
with coffee in a dragon pot, and bread and but- 
ter upon dragon plates. This with tips to the 
waiter, cost us about twelve and one half cents 
each, which to the American mind was some- 
what surprising. The coffee not quenching my 
thirst, I asked for ice-water; not to be had ; then 
for an ordinary, plain, everyday drink of water; 
not to be had either; nothing but selzer, which 
s&mehow did not seem to ' 'fill a long felt want." 
But refreshed and restored, we resumed our 
walk and, as we stroHed along the avenue, which 
had now re-entered the park, there was a sudden 
reverberation of wheels, a clatter of hoofs, a 
gleam of scarlet and gold, and lo ! an imperial 
carriage dashed by. This being royal domairi, 
no other would be allowed to traverse it, so we 
had the spectacle for what it was worth. We 
then trudged on reflecting, perhaps, that "the 
rich can ride in chaises," but we — could catch a 
tram, which we did, and in due time, arrived 
safely in Berlin. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The next week I went on to Dresden, a monoto- 
nous trip of about three hours by express, which 
would have been very dull but for the delightful 
weather and the pleasant look of the fields and 
groves in the summer sunshine. The effect was 
marred for me, however, as it had been so often 
during my travels on the continent, by the 
sight of poor, exhausted looking women toiling 
with such a hopeless appearance at all sorts of 
heavy labors incident to the tilling of the soil; 
and at the same time having charge of infants of 
the tenderest age, which are sometimes strapped 
to the mother's shoulders, sometimes swaddled 
up in a bundle upon the grass, and sometimes, 
when the little feet have become more ambitious, 
are tied to trees or posts in the vicinity, with 
long bands that permit some degree of locomo- 
tion. And at other times I saw in the beauti- 
ful grounds of enchanting estates, feeble, old 
women who were past their time of usefulness in 
the fields, bowed down upon hands and knees 
and crawling about the turf to pick up, one by 
one, the leaves and twigs that might be scattered 
there. I have been told that, for this service, 
they each receive six or seven cents a day; this 
may be an error, I did not verify it. 

Women drag wagons and bear burdens of all 
descriptions, young children clinging to their 
gowns; older ones assist. I was fain to ask : 
"Where aie themen?" Many, of course, have 
gone to be soldiers, but the question was an- 



ONE WOMAN PANDERING 213 

swered in another way, by a spectacle I saw one 
day upon the street. 

To a heavy cart laden with lumber of all kinds, 
old stoves, boxes, barrels and so forth, a middle 
aged woman was harnessed with a dog. Both 
were straining every muscle to move the vehicle, 
while behind, coolly lounging along, occasionally 
spurring up the "beasts" with harsh commands, 
pipe in mouth and hands in pockets, was the 
"lord and master'' of the outfit. I suppose they 
were thankful he did not get into the cart and 
ride. 

What enchantment of nature or beauty of art 
can compensate for such a state of things? In 
France, while women bear, as is just, their full 
share of the responsibilities of life, I saw no ouch 
degradation, and though I do not know the status 
of woman in French law, 1 do know that dog- 
labor is forbidden. 

Fair Germany, so beautiful and so endowed, 
why permittest thou these things so to be? 

Still the wheels turn tirelessly onward and 
soon we enter the lovely suburbs of Dresden 
and note the grand sweep of the River Elbe as, 
spanned by three fine stone bridges, it curves 
in front of the fair city. 

Here, as in Berlin and some other German 
cities, the traveler is handed a metal ticket as 
he passes through the station-gate, and with 
this ticket he secures a cab of corresponding 
number. These vehicles are of two kinds, call- 
ed first and second class. The latter is cheaper 
and roomier ; the drivers wear yellow hat-bands 
and collars, instead of white as in the first class; 
the latter are supposed to be better fitted up, 
as a rule, than the second class, but in reality 
there is no very striking difference in the ap- 
pointments of the two classes. 



214 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Dresden, as we all know, is noted for its 
magnificent picture gallery, M'hich now ranks 
with the Louvre, the Pitti and the Uffizzi, and 
there are probably few travelers who do not 
make it the first objective point of their sight- 
seeing. Abler pens than mine have set forth 
its treasures, and I will make no attempt to 
follow in their lead. But what a privilege it 
is to have these wondrous creations close at 
hand, where one may retire at will to marvel 
and to admire, or to be led in spirit, either 
backward to the eventful scenes of bygone eras, 
to the days of romance and chivalry, or up and 
away through the realms of imagination, to 
those elevated regions of thought and hope, to 
which we all strive to attain, in our best and 
noblest moments. 

Dresden's collection is fitly housed, the edi- 
fice containing it being considered one of the 
finest examples of modern architecture. The 
picture-gallery occupies the first and second 
floors of the Museum, and the Museum forms 
the north west wing of the Zioinger, which is a 
splendid structure that one really must see to 
obtain any adequate idea of its magnificence. It 
owes its existence to the splendor loving "Augus- 
tus the Strong," and, to quote a popular writer, 
"as Augustus the Strong bore some resemblance 
to Louis XIV., so the erection of the Z winger re- 
calls the palatial edifices built about that period 
as monuments befitting the glorious reign of the 
Grand Monarque of France." It consists of 
seven pavilions connected by a gallery of one 
story, inclosing a court one hundred and 
twenty-eight yards long, and one hundred and 
seventeen wide, but only a small portion of the 
original design has been completed. 

According to Baedeker, the present site of 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 215 

the Museum was to have been occupied by a 
huge portal which was to lead to an elevated 
plateau flanked by two long palaces ; these edi- 
fices were to have been connected by galleries, 
whence flights of steps would have descended to 
the Elbe. But the magnificent plan, conceived 
in 1711, and carried out until 1722, was never 
fully executed ; and the Museum, now forming 
a part of the group, was built there in 1847-54. 

Nor do the Zwivger and the Museum stand 
alone in their beauty. A grand old pile, the 
Roman Catholic Court-Church, rises diagonally 
across from the Zivinger, in a remarkably spa- 
cious square, and is truly an imposing and ma- 
jestic structure; the parapets and entrances are 
adorned with seventy colossal statues of saints ; 
the tower is two hundred and eighty feet high. 

Opposite on the northeast stands the Court- 
Theater, a magnificent Renaissance building, 
covering an area of fifty-five hundred and fifty 
square yards. It is so richly ornamented with 
paintings^ with medallions, with figures in 
stone and bronze, that, like the Zwinger, it must 
be seen to be realized. 

A handsome guard-house with vestibule up- 
borne by six Ionic columns, is also in this square. 
All these edifices being detached, their full 
beauty and dignity are manifest to the beholder; 
across on the southern side, is the Royal Palace, 
the proportions of which are not so evident as 
it does not stand out by itself. Not far from this 
is a fine elevated terrace, that, lined with beauti- 
ful villas and handsome public buildings, and in- 
terspersed with great trees and lovely plats of: 
plants and flowers, stretches away ofi^ toward 
the east along the margin of the Elbe. This 
was originally laid out as a private pleasure- 
garden, by Count Bruehl, and is approached 



216 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

from the Schloss-Platz, or Castle square, by a 
broad flight of steps adorned with gilded groups 
in sandstone, of Morning, Noon, Evening and 
Night. 

The new Bohemian Station in Dresden, un- 
finished at the present writing, though complet- 
ed enough for traffic, is I think, the finest that 
I have ever seen. 

Dresden has no lack of American visitors 
and students, and is, perhaps, as well known by 
people of other lands, as any foreign city in the 
world. The wife and daughters of one of our 
ex-consuls were at my pension. There was also 
a Dane lady, one French, one English, and one 
Russian; the hostess was German and all the 
others were United States Americans. Oddly e- 
nough, we were a family of women, our hostess 
being the kindest and most genial of old 
maids, with no masculine belongings, and her 
patrons also, at this particular epoch, all unat- 
tended by gentlemen. 

My windows overlooked a pleasant little 
park, where I would hear children frolicking at 
all hours of the day, and singing airs as familiar 
to me as to them, such as any group of Ameri- 
can children might sing, "Lightly Row," "The 
House is Haunted," "Baby Bye," and sometimes 
what we call "My Country." Odd about this 
last air, Lhat so many nations claim it as national 
music. Of course, these little folks sing in 
German, but, as I cannot distinguish any words 
at this distance, the effect is quite "homey." 

One thing I particularly approve about 
these German towns, is the clear and distinct 
labeling and numbering of streets and roads. 

There is very little possibility of a stranger 
losing his way if he can read the placards that 
are placed at frequent intervals all along the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 217 

routes at every turn and corner, high enough to 
be out of the reach of marauding hands, — 
though such would be sternly dealt with here, — 
and placed solidly against some background 
where wind or storm cannot disturb them. In 
addition to the name of the street, on every cor- 
ner building are painted the numbers contained 
in that side of the block, with an arrow show- 
ing which way they run; and though Germans 
do no not invariably, as we do, place odd and 
even numbers on opposite sides of the streets, 
yet under this system no one can fail to locate 
any desired spot, with very little effort. 

Dresden has a iine system of both horse and 
electric trams, but I saw none of the 'buses that 
bave been so numerous in many other places. 

Desiring to visit the Albertinum, I entered a 
tram one day and when paying my fare, I ex- 
plained to the conductor that I was a stranger 
and requested him to tell me when I had 
reached my destination. A nice-looking old 
gentleman sitting next me, asked me if I were 
a foreigner ; on my answering that I was from 
the United States, he was interested at once. 

"Oh! the United States," he said ; "I have 
always wanted to see that great and wonderful 
country; do you know Denver?" 

I replied that I had visited there ; whereupon 
he went on to tell about a son he had in some 
college there, who had evidently filled his old 
father's mind with admiration for the home of 
his son. 

"You must go to visit him;" I suggested. 

"No, I am too old," he rejoined, "I am sev- 
enty years old," — he did not seem sixty, — "and 
I have been one of the King's Huntsmen for 
fifty years; much would I delight to get a shot 
M some of the grand and wonderful game in 
that far, far west." 



218 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

His son, he said, was thirty-five years of age- 
and had just married a lady of twenty, what did. 
I think of that? 

I replied that they had probably suited them- 
selves, and he assented with a smiling "t/a, ja, 
ja;'^ but suddenly pointing outside, exclaimed, 
"The King, the King!" 

I turned hastily and beheld a plain, single- 
carriage wherein was seated a kindly looking 
old gentleman who bowed pleasantly right and 
left, but who was without the least insignia or 
appurtenance of exalted rank and with no at- 
tendant except his driver. 

My old gentleman remarked that the king was- 
always like that, simple and unostentatious in 
the extreme. About this time the old hunts- 
man took his departure, after giving me most 
minute instructions for finding my way. I was. 
sorry to lose him, he was so friendly. 

1 visited the palace of this same King Albert 
of Saxony, the next day and saw his portrait in 
regal attire, looking down in dignity from thft 
stately hall, but seeming even so, the same 
kindly-natured being. 

The palace is not specially noteworthy with, 
the exception of its treasure-room called the 
"Green Vaults, "which are splendid beyond de- 
scription. Here is a most remarkable display of 
curiosities, jewels, trinkets, plate, gold and sil- 
ver smith's work of the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries, enamels, ivory carvings and 
ci*ystal cuttings, said to be one of the most val- 
uable collections in existence. 

1 noticed in this palace, as I had done previ- 
ously in Potsdam, Versailles, Berlin, in fact, in 
most of the ancient palaces, great mirrors com- 
posed of many panes, or pieces, not larger than 
a medium-sized window-pane; at first, I could 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 219 

not imagine why they had been so divided, but 
learned later it was because they were made be- 
fore the invention ot the process for making 
large sheets of glass. The effects in reflec- 
tion from these numerous divisions, are very 
odd. 

Fourteen miles from Dresden, lies Meissen, an 
ancient Saxon town most picturesquely situated 
at the point where the rivers Triebisch and 
Meisse flow into the Elbe, In lofty prominence, 
one hundred and sixty feet above the town, tow- 
ers the rocky Schlossberg,to attain the summit of 
which, one follows a winding, steep and narrow 
way, paved with square, flat stones, 

A charming view is had from the top, before 
one crosses the massive bridge leading from one 
battlement to another, and enters the high walls 
that form part of the defences of the citadel. 
Here upon a spacious plateau , stands a gray 
old cathedral, and the vaulted castle, Albrechts- 
burg. 

But the chief interest at Meissen is the Royal 
Porcelain Factory, where is manufactured what 
is popularly known as "Dresden China." The 
art of making this, it seems, was actually dis- 
covered in a chamber of the Albrechtsburg, 
where the chemist Boettger had his laboratory 
and where the porcelain was made for a year, 
until 1710, when the present works just below 
the Schlossberg, in the Triebischthal, were es- 
tablished, since when the process has been 
carried on there. There is an interesting paint- 
ing in the old laboratory in the Schlossberg, 
representing Boettger at work, and explaining 
his process of making the china, to Augustus 
the Strong, The porcelain as first made was 
of a soft, "crushed-strawberry" color, but 
it is now wrought out in most delicate blue and 



220 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

white, ornamented, of course, in various styles. 
We were taken all over the Factory and found it 
marvelously interesting, our guide explaining 
everything in the most painstaking manner. At 
Sevres, visitors are not allowed in the work- 
rooms. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Rising boldly from adjacent steeps and over- 
looking the winding waters of the Elbe, looms 
the Bastei, the finest point in Saxon Switzer- 
land, ten hundred and thirty feet above sea- 
level. 

Taking train at Dresden, one passes over a 
route growing more and more picturesque, as it 
follows the course of the sinuous river. 

In the genial, but not oppressive sunshine 
that is so characteristic of the summer season 
here, our party set forth to view the beauties of 
this romantic region. 

Arriving opposite the little village of Wehlen, 
we quitted the train and walked past the few 
small houses clustered about the station, and 
down a winding path to the river, where we 
found a not over large, but rather unwieldly 
row-boat, the owner of which consented to take 
us acrors. 

Two or three persons from other points had 
already assembled here and just before me in 
stepping into the boat, was a stubby, impassive- 
looking fellow of middle age, in rustic garb, 
while already sitting in the boat was another 
man, somewhat older, short, fat and "roly- 
poly," with a jolly, red face and an expression 
"childlike and bland." 

As these two spied each other, they rushed 
ecstatically together at the risk of upsetting the 
boat, clasped each other in the most fervent of 
embraces, kissing one another over and over on 
both cheeks and ejaculating enthusiastically: 



222 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

^^Ach HimmelV 
'•'■Du lieber MannV 

'■'■Mein bester Frevnd!'''' and so on repeatedly 
until at last they subsided into their seats, still 
clasping hands and beaming upon each other 
delightedly. We looked on with amused inter- 
est, striving to fancy the closest of American 
male relatives going through such a scene even 
in private. Not that we condemned the spirit; 
indeed, we considered it rather refreshing and 
infinitely preferable to the bored and blase de- 
meanor affected by many of our exponents of 
good form; still, it might be well to take ac- 
count of stage-setting and audience, before fully 
giving way to one's emotions. 

By this time we had all found places, and 
soon moved slowly across the stream. 

Arriving safely, my companions scattered 
their several ways, and I wandered through the 
delightfully quaint little village, on past an 
ancient church where, turning, one follows a 
good wide path that ascends gradually but con- 
stantly as one proceeds. It winds along through 
a narrow ravine, thickly wooded, and almost 
immediately there is no trace of human occupa- 
tion and one seems to be in the very depths of 
some "foi'est primeval." 

The path gradually contracts and soon the 
way becomes but a mere defile between great, 
towering buttresses of gray rock, which stand 
out in solid masses of such substantial and reg- 
ular continuity, that they seem to have been 
reared by giant hands under the leadership of 
some mighty master-mason. 

Though the trees have now removed them- 
selves to the top of these lofty battlements, for 
there is no room for them in the gorge, yet the 
air is cool and the light shaded, for these reach 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 223 

down to the wayfarer, from above into the 
abyss, between hundreds of feet of solid rock. 

Though it seems so isolated, yet it is not 
lonely, for merry parties are continually coming 
and going upon this marvelous, meandering way. 
A company of children under charge of two or 
three adults, passes on singing; it disappears 
around a turn of the mighty chasm, and the 
voices come back echoing and re-echoing from 
the granite walls. 

Still upward and onward; here and there a 
vine trails downward from far above, or some 
aspiring moss stretches up from the foot of the 
prolonged precipice, and embroiders the gray 
surface of the rocky ramparts in traceries of 
living green. A little rill flows out now and 
then, and a daring blossom thrusts forth its 
■dainty head at occasional intervals. 

Up and up and up ; still tower the rocks on 
high, growing more grotesque and tremendous ; 
but we are coming to the top and finally we 
emerge from the defile, into an extensive pine 
wool through which we clamber still upward. 
And now we come to level ground and discover 
a tiny, woodland restaurant, Der Steinerne 
Tisch, or "The Stony Table," with inviting at- 
tractions for refreshment ; but we are too near 
the aim of our exertions to stop here, so we 
press on, and at length we reach the highest 
peak of this huge precipice called the Bastei. 

There is a fine inn on the summit of the cliffs, 
and the whispering forest creeps up close to its 
walls. Between the main fayade of the inn and 
the brink of the crags, are exceedingly wide 
Terandas, railed in for safety's sake, and here 
was found a motley company of pleasure-seek- 
ers, eating, drinking, chatting cosily, or listen- 
ing to the music provided for its entertainment. 



224 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Finding a seat close to the edge of the plat- 
form, I look down on the wonderful panorama 
spread out below. 

North, south, east and west, the eye sweeps in 
voiceless admiration. Far down in the green 
and peaceful valley, the Elbe rolls its placid 
waters, six hundred and forty-five feet beneath, 
bearing upon its bosom many a little craft of 
pleasure or traffic and curving gracefully from 
point to point until lost amid the wooded ra- 
vines and stony stefps at either hand. Tiny 
hamlets dot its borders, country roads and fer- 
tile fields lie all along its stretches, until the 
mighty bastions of rugged rock tower up beyond, 
seeming to say : "Thus far and no farther." 

We are told that from this pinnacle one over- 
looks the whole of Saxon Switzerland, and we 
are willing to believe it as we gaze abroad. 

And now, 1 aving feasted bodily and spiritual 
eye to the full, a more ignoble, perhaps, but not 
less useful organ asserts its claims to recogni- 
tion, so I summon a "JTeZZ/^er," and demand 
some slight internal refreshment. 

"And what will the gracious lady be pleased 
to desire?"' is the polite inquiry of that func- 
tionary. 

The "gracious lady" intimates a longing for 
chocolate and cake. 

They appear ; the first is tempting; the sec- 
ond — interesting but unrecognizable. I appeal 
to the waiter: "What is this?" 

"Cake, gracious lady." 

"What makes it so dark?" 

"It is the flour, gracious lady." 

"But why is it so dry and queer?" 

"It is its age, gracious lady." 

"Its age ! I don't want aged cake; bring me 
some fresh, please?" 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 225 

"But perhaps the gracious lady does not know 
that we make it only once a year and it is not 
now the season." 

I am aghast. Cake a year old ! How do they 
ever manage to keep it in any wise, for that 
time, and why do they wish to do so? For it is 
not a rich fruit cake with wines and spices to 
preserve it. 

But I have exposed my ignorance, doubtless, 
by my horrified expression, for the servant goes 
on to explain that this cake is a specialty in 
this region ; that it is prepared from a recipe 
handed down from time immemorial and is, by 
some method which I really did not comprehend, 
subjected to a sort of "curing" process ; per- 
haps on the principle applied in treating certain 
celebrated cheeses, that must lie for a year or so 
in special caves under peculiar conditions, to 
acquire their distinctive qualities. At all 
events, the waiter prevailed upon me to taste the 
cake and, to my amazement, I found it to be 
very good indeed. I regret that I neglected to 
ask its name, so I can only refer to it, on occa- 
sion, as the "aged cake." 

One has a choice of a variety of routes on the 
Bastei, and, in descending, I took the shortest 
and most precipitous, that leading to Rathen. 

After goicg down the first descent from the 
hotel, one passes over a massive, mid-air bridge 
constructed in 1851, that connects the various 
summits of the rocky pinnacles that here rise 
hundreds of feet from the valley. 

Most astonishing and diverse are the views 
one obtains from this bridge, as one is alter- 
nately completely shut in by the huge turrets of 
ragged rock, or gazes off into space and dowia 
into the abysses at either hand ; that on the 
right revealing the smiling valley, that on the 



226 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

left, great masses of rock clothed in hardy 
woodland growth of varied green. 

High up on these grim walls that rise so far 
above one's head, is set many a tablet commem- 
orative of some honored citizen or eventful occa- 
sion of the vicinity. 

Shortly after leaving the bridge, the path 
broadens and a space of perhaps fifteen feet in 
width is reached. Here, at the extreme verge 
of the precipice, looms a mighty boulder, so 
vast that one's mind fails to take in a computa- 
tion of its solid contents. 

Apparently poised and ready for a plunge, it 
is in reality perfectly firm, and its base is beau- 
tified by neatly kept beds of blooming plants 
and "flowering vines ; for this boulder has been 
converted into a monument to some sweet singer 
dear to the Saxon heart, and his name and fame 
are set forth in graven letters far above. 

Then again the path contracts between the 
stern stone walls and, growing steeper and 
steeper, is at length merged into one long stair- 
case of stony steps, to cut which must have cost 
almost inconceivable time and labor, and which 
is so narrow that one's out-stretched hands may 
easily touch the rocks at either side, nearly all 
the way. Occasionally there will come a short, 
comparatively level stretch, where trees spring 
up and mosses and ferns abound, then more 
steps and again down, down, down. 

This, though very tiring, is exceedingly rapid 
traveling, and presently a lovely, green, sloping 
meadow is reached, around the edge of which 
the path leads on, until soon it descends again 
steeply and a few more steps appear; then a 
paved way which finally leads down into the 
pretty, rustic village of Rathen, with a ruined 
castle overlooking the cottages and lanes. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 227 

The railway station is on the opposite side 
and, as I am about to embark in a little row-boat 
to reach that point, I glance up the stream and 
perceive a small steamer coming down, and find 
that I can return to Dresden by water. 

So I board the trim vessel and, finding a quiet 
and sheltered nook on the rear deck, I compose 
my weary limbs in a comfortable position and 
watch the lovely panorama unroll itself behind 
us, as we make our way back to the city; stop- 
ping with shrill "toot" and much churning up 
of the current, now on one side of the river, 
now on the other, at the neat villages scattered 
all along the shores. 

Some of the towns are of considerable conse- 
quence, as Pirna, with its fourteen thousand in- 
habitants, its old fortress and its quarries of 
sandstones ; or Koenigstein, not so extensive in 
population, but possessing a still more impor- 
tant fortress imposingly situated eight hundred 
and fifteen feet above the Elbe. 

This great pile was originally a castle, down 
to 1401 ; then a monastery, then again fortified 
in 1540. Its well is six hundred and twenty feet 
deep and contains sixty-five feet of water. We 
are told that the treasures and archives of Sax- 
ony, are deposited in this fortress in time of war, 
but at present it is used as a state-prison. But 
most of the landing-places are merely rural ham- 
lets or the summer homes of urban denizens. 

Not far from Koenigstein and rising some one 
hundred and fifty feet higher, appears the Lilien- 
stein of tragic memory. At the base of this 
huge crag in 1756, fourteen thousand Saxon sol- 
diers were surrounded by Prussians under Fred- 
erick the Great, and compelled to surrender on 
account of hunger. But nature smiles on as 
ever, and fair and peaceful glints the landscape 
in the summer sunset. 



228 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

It is a much longer distance back by water than 
by rail, and evening tints and shadows begin to 
creep athwart the scene, ere we come to the 
long rows of fine villas that mark the approach 
to Dresden, The noble contours of the city's 
impressive architecture and the graceful spans 
of its artistic bridges, are thrown distinctly 
against the deepening sky as we glide into port, 
and find ourselves at our journey's end. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

From Dresden to Leipsic is but a short jour- 
ney, only two and one quarter hours by express. 
The train winds along through a very pretty 
country on leaving Dresden, keeping for some 
time at the base of the Loessnitz Hilk, which 
are "with verdure clad" and dotted with many 
fine villas and country homes. 

I did not stop long enough in Leipsic to gain 
much of an idea of its characteristics. It is, of 
course, well known as the center of Germany's 
book trade, a position it has held for over a 
hundred years. Statistics show there are more 
than a hundred printing offices and about six 
hundred and fifty publishers, and book-estab- 
lishments in this city of three hundred and fifty 
six thousand inhabitants, while publishers in 
other parts of Germany have, almost without 
exception, emporiums of their books at Leipsic, 
whence they are sent out over all the world. 

Leipsic is also the seat of the supreme law- 
courts of the German empire, while its facili- 
ties for the study of music and other special 
lines, are taken advantage of by hundreds of 
foreign students. The city is not so handsome, 
to my thinking, as many another in this region, 
but it has of course, its fine and interesting 
features. 

The name is said to have been at first Lipzk, 
or "the town of lime trees." It is mentioned 
first in history in the eleventh century and was 
soon after fortified. These fortifications are 
now changed, as in so many other old-world 



230 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

towns, into pleasant promenades beyond which 
lie the inner suburbs, which in turn are inclosed 
by the outer suburbs. 

The New Theater is a handsome building; 
the Museum opposite is chiefly noted for its col- 
lection of modern pictures; the Augusteum is 
the si at of the University founded in 1408 and 
now attended by more than three thousand stu- 
dents. These edifices, with the post-office, sur- 
round the spacious Augustas Platz where is also 
a fine, monumental fountain. 

Goethe was a student here in 1767-8. Auer- 
bach's Keller on Grimmaische street, is celebra- 
ted as the scene of a part of Faust; it contains 
some curious mural paintings representing, we 
aie told, the tradition on which the play is 
based. 

In Goethe street is an obelisk celebrating the 
completion of the Leipsic and Dresden railway, 
which was opened in 1837 and was the first of 
any importance in Germany. Of course, as an 
old University center, Leipsic has numberless 
relics of celebrated men. 

Poets, philosophers, musicians, painters and 
others are commemorated by tablet and token, by 
monumental brass and stone. 

The Rosenthal and the Connewitz Woods are 
both pleasant sylvan retreats beautified by skill 
and taste. Two miles southeast of Leipsic, is 
Napoleonstein, a wooded height from wliioh Na- 
poleon watched the progress of the battle of 
Leipsic in 1814. It lasted, as history tells us, 
four days, and is the most prolonged and san- 
guinary on record. Many relics have naturally 
been found about here and are preserved with 
great care. The only building on which bullet- 
marks are still visible, is the chateau at Doelitz, 
two miles west of the obelisk. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 231 

Leaving Leipsic by the Thuringian railway, I 
found myself passing through an exceedingly 
picturesque district. 

We change cars at Corbetha,near which three 
celebrated battles were fought in the years 
agone, in the first of which, Lueten, Gustavus 
Adolphus, king of Sweden, was mortally wound- 
ed. At Rossbach, Frederick the Great gained a 
signal victory in 1757; and in 1815 a fierce en- 
gagement took place between the allied Russians 
and Prussians against the French. How every 
foot of these ancient lands has been dyed over 
and over, throughout the centuries, in the bright 
tide of human blood. Even so in our own land, no 
doubt, but the red chieftains and warriors of 
those bygone ages there, had no poet, no his- 
torian, and so their bravery and valor, their 
struggles and conquests, are all unwritten and 
unsung and we know them not. 

All is smiling and peaceful here now as we run 
along in the valley of the Saale. amidst many 
spots of quaint and historical interest; the 
country gradually becomes more broken and we 
see vineyards all about on the hill-sides, while 
from frequent castle and cathedral, turret and 
pinnacle spring aloft toward the clear, blue 
sky. 

A pleasant lady now joins me in my compart- 
ment where I have been for some time alone. 
Seeing I have English literature, she is interested 
and we get into conversation. She is familiar 
with this part of the country and kindly calls my 
attention to many a point that other v.-ise mighfc, 
have escaped my notice. The dusky evening be- 
gins to gather as we wind in and out of the hills 
and along by the rippling river. We have left 
the Saale and are now on the banks of the 11m. 
Suddenly we are abreast of two striking ruins so 



232 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

near that they are startlingly distinct in the 
shadowy light. They are not of the soft gray 
hue that is usually the result of the wear and 
tear of ages, but of a light yellowish tint, some- 
thing like the cream-colored brick of our central 
states. 

They stand facing each other across a narrow 
gulch and are not perched, as is general, upon 
some dizzy height, but stand on two moderately 
high elevations that slope gently down to the 
valley. Cruel rents and jagged breaches are 
in their dismantled walls, evincing the desper- 
ate struggles through which they have passed. 

My companion says that it was an ancient 
custom of certain tribal enemies, to rear castles 
thus near each other on the edges of a ravine, 
and then to fight across until one or the other 
party was conquered or exterminated, when the 
vanquisher took possession of his victim's prop- 
erty. The slopes seemed so soft in their con- 
tours and the green grass so velvety and tender, 
that those grim objects looming up in the dim 
light had a weird and peculiar effect. 

Weimar is reached only in time for supper 
and bed, but the next morning I start out with 
renewed vigor. Very lovely indeed looked the 
old town which has so many literary associa- 
tions, the master spirits among which are 
Goethe and Schiller. 

The houses of each of these two distinguished 
writers and "world-poets," are kept as far as 
possible in the condition in which they were 
left by their distinguished occupants. 

Schiller's home is modest and unpretending, 
consisting of a few rooms in the upper story of 
a medium-sized house in Schiller Street. They 
are plainly furnished and contain many personal 
.and family mementoes. Schiller's life in Wei- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



233 



mar was brief as compared with Goethe's, and 
the former had neither the time nor the oppor- 
tunity to gather about him such treasures as 
Goethe accumulated in his long and varied ex- 
istence. 

It seemed strange to look out at the windows 
and reflect that I was gazing upon the same 
scene that Schiller had viewed day after day; 
to sit at the desk and in the chair where he 
wrote his wondrous lines ; to go down the nar- 
row stairs which he must have trodden so many 
Innumerable times back and forth. It made me 
sorrowful for, speaking from his immortal works, 
he had ever before seemed a living presence 
to me, and now I realized that he was dead and 
that the places that knew him were empty for- 
ever. 

I did not feel the same sensation of sadness 
in Goethe's house. Perhaps it is because the 
place is so very different, so much more exten- 
sive, and fitted up so much more in the style of 
a public museum, that the idea of personality is 
lost in a measure, and one feels rather as if 
merely viewing another of the numerous art and 
curio collections that so abound abroad. 

Goethe was a wide traveler, a most cultivated 
and many-sided character. He lived in Weimar 
fifty-six years, during forty of which this 
house, presented to him by Duke Karl August, 
was the dwelling of the great poet. A spacious 
staircase with wide ante-rooms, designed by 
Goethe and profusely decorated with statues 
and cartoons, leads to the reception-rooms. To 
the left is the Juno Room ; then follow the Urbino 
Room; the Dechenzimmer, which with the ad- 
joining chamber, forms a suite; the Bust Room ; 
the Garden Room, besides the more usual living- 
rooms. 



234 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

In these apartments, arranged and classified 
by Goethe's own hand, are his wonderful accu- 
mulations of portraits, antique gems, medals, 
orders, rings, copies of and original valuable 
manuscripts, paintings, sketches and drawings^ 
besides a large number of Goethe's own handi- 
work, medallions, gifts from countries, cities, 
corporations and friends from all parts of the 
world, including one from the United States, 
which consists only of a small circular disc of 
some kind of wood, on which was imprinted the 
name of some newspaper and the date, 1846 ; (I 
am sorry that I omitted to take a note of the 
inscription, and find that I can not recall it;) 
vases, cups, drinking horns, rare china, coins, 
plaques, minerals, precious stones, statuettes, 
sculptures, the piano on which young Mendels- 
sohn played, and so forth, iu eluding, I verily 
believe, every variety of objects that can be 
collected, except living specimens. 

One is first dazzled, then dazed by the variety, 
value and beauty of this astonishing array, and 
it is rather a relief to come at last to the back 
of the house where, overlooking an old-fashioned 
garden, are Goethe's simple study and bedroom. 

These two are furnished in the sparest and 
plainest fashion, the bedroom containing nothing 
but a single-bed, a bare wooden wash-stand and 
a large arm-chair by no means luxurious, in which 
he died. The floor is bare, the room narrow 
and contracted, with but one small window, yet 
it is just as he left it. 

From these close confines, that mighty genius 
which had moved the world with its wondrous 
power, went out into the mystic beyond ; leaving 
in passing, no feeblest trace or impress upon 
the material objects that had served its earthly 
needs so long. • 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 235 

Oh ! the mystery of spirit, which, while here 
in mortal guise, can sway the whole round globe ; 
and yet, departing, freed from fleshly housings, 
can send back no slightest manifestation there- 
after, through all the ages of the circling 
spheres. 

There is no one left to inherit Goethe's fame 
and treasures ; they are accredited to the state ; 
the family is extinct. 

Passing out f^^om all these mementoes of a 
vanished existence, I come again into the warm 
sunshine and roam about where fancy beckons. 
Of course Weimar has its Schloss, and I come 
upon it quite accidentally, in passing through a 
queer and crooked street which takes me round 
many a turn and corner. 

Suddenly it broadens out and upon the oppo- 
site side stretches away a beautiful domain of 
emerald turf and majestic trees, while a massive 
and stately edifice rears itself in the midst of 
the cool shades. Noticing a seat at hand by 
the door of a shop, I take possession of the same 
and, looking across, enjoy and admire. 

Young Germany, in the guise of a toddler of 
about eighteen months, comes out of the shop 
and welcomes me rapturously. I return the 
small man's expansive smiles and shake the 
chubby, little paw, somewhat begrimed, that he 
insists on offering. Not content with this, he 
ambles back into the house and returns with his 
mother, performing all that is essential in the 
way of introduction, by renewed smiles, many 
gestures and several "gee-gees" and "da-das," 
a sort of infantile Volapuek. The mother also 
proves friendly and is much pleased to learn 
that I am admiring the view. And then rested 
and cheered, I go on to the many other intt- rest- 
ing spots that I must not attempt now to chron- 



236 ONE WOalAN WANDERING 

icle, merely referring to the Stadt Kirche, with 
its parsonage near by occupied by Herder for so 
many years, and to a fine, bronze statue of him, 
standing in front of the church and bearing on 
the pedestal his favorite motto, '■^Licht, Hebe, 
Lehen,^'' (Light, Love, Life.) 

There are numerous monuments in "Weimar to 
its celebrated men, as Karl August, Wieland and 
others, but the most imposing of all, is that 
erected to Goethe and Schiller in front of the 
Theater, where the colossal figures in bronze of 
the two poet-friends, are represented standing 
side by side, with clasped hands. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



Without having half exhausted the interests of 
Weimar, I continue through the hills and dales 
and beside the numerous water-courses of this 
picturesque region. 

The weather is still delightful ; in fact, I am 
charmed with the summer climate of the conti- 
nent, so far as I have experienced it. The sun 
shines out clear and genial but not oppressive ; 
our excessive heat is unknown and in the warm- 
est days it is cool in the shade. Another most 
remarkable thing is the scarcity of flies and 
insects. 1 have not yet seen a screen in use, 
though I did notice two windows in Potsdam 
that had screens at hand, also one later in a 
hotel in Holland, but they are almost unknown. 
Doors and windows stand wide open ; night after 
night 1 read or write by gas, oil, electricity or can- 
dle as the case may be, before open windows, 
and yet never a fly or a moth disturbs me then, 
nor during my highly prized morning nap. This 
could not be done with us at home in mid-sum- 
mer, nor indeed at any time from April to 
October. The nights are cool and refreshing 
and I have never yet been inconvenienced by 
the heat, though the "natives" frequently com- 
plain because it is so "awfully hot." 

Not far from Weimar we come to Erfurt, a 
quaint old town near which is a salt mine with 
a shaft thirteen hundred feet deep. 

The train now approaches the north slope of 
the Thuringian forest. The hills grow more 
towering and on nearly every height is a castle, 

337 



238 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

either in ruins or "brought down to date" for 
modern use. About five miles from Erfurt, are 
three isolated hills called the Di^ei Gleichen, 
which might be freely translated as "three of a 
kind;" they are each topped by a castle; one of 
these, the Wachsenburg, is in good preservation, 
the other two are beautiful in their decay. 

Skirting the Seeberg, we come in view of 
Gotha, a busy mercantile place, beyond which a 
fine outlook is obtained on to the Thuringian 
mountains. 

Now we follow the course of the river Hoersel. 
Along, jagged and precipitous range rises, on 
the right, called the Hoerselberg. This attains 
a height of fifteen hundred and seventy-five 
feet and extends nearlj' to Eisenach. Tradition 
locates here the grotto of Venus, into which that 
goddess lured the knight Tanhaeuser. 

Soon we see against the horizon the towers 
of Eisenach, a town of twenty-one thousand in- 
habitants and commonly called the finest point 
in the Thuringian forest. Five hundred and 
sixty-five feet above the city looms the great for- 
tified castle of the Wartburg, situated on a mount 
of the same name. Founded in 1070, it has 
passed through numerous startling vicissitudes, 
but in the last half century has been restored 
to its original grandeur and ranks as one of the 
best Romanesque secular buildings now 
existing. A grand retrospect of the 
frowning old fortress, is had as the train fol- 
lows the Hoersel to its junction with the Werra. 
The ruins of Castle Brandenburg are seen on 
the left and then an envious tunnel shuts olf our 
view. 

We next find ourselves in the valley of the 
Fulda. Fine streams are numerous and the 
country is undulating but with few prominent 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



239 



elevations. At Hersfeld is pointed out to us a 
Benedictine Abbey founded in 769, once of great 
importance but now used as a school-house. 
The abbey church was destroyed in 1761, but its 
ruins are majestic in their beauty. 

This secition of the country was occupied at a 
very early date. 

The town of Fulda owes its origin to an ab- 
bey founded in 754, while its little church of St. 
Michael, was consecrated in 822. 

Many ruins all about in vale and on height, 
give picturesque evidence of time's tireless ener- 
gies. 

The train descends the valley of the Kinzig. ■ 
In this river is an island whereon are the remains 
of an imperial palace erected' before the year 
1170. Here the emperor Frederick Barbarossa 
held a Diet in eleven hundred and eighty, to 
pronounce the deposition of Duke Henry the 
Lion ()f Saxony. Beyond this point the country 
is level. We reach Hanau, noted, among other 
things, as the birth-place of Jacob and Wilhelm 
Grimm. We cross and recross the mighty river 
Main and find ourselves in low-lying Frankfort. 

Flat indeed it seems to eyes for some time ac- 
customed to the diversified scenery farther east, 
of the Hartz Mountains, of the Saxon peaks and 
pinnacles, and to the pleasing heights and 
wooded slopes of the Thuringian and the Black 
forests. Not an eminence is to be noted as one's 
eyes sweep about, and the horizon is unbroken 
except for the uprising towers and turrets, of 
which Frankfort has its full quota. 

Ages ago, we are told, a vast expanse of water 
rolled over this plain, "filling the space from the 
Alps and the Jura to the Taunus and Hunds- 
rueck mountains," and connected by a narrow 
sea-arm to the German Ocean. But now we see 



240 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

no rolling waters except the magnificent Main, 
which adds so much to the attractiveness and 
importance of the city. 

Frankfort ambitiously dates itst-lf back to the 
first century when, it is claimed, the Romans 
built a castle on the present "Cathedral Hill," 
so called, though why "hill," I am unable to 
divine. 

This Roman military post fell before the con- 
quering German tribes of the third century, 
who themselves were conquered centuries after,, 
by the Franks. 

The place is first mentioned as Franco-furty 
"the ford of the Franks' country," — in a docu- 
ment dated 790 ; and three years afterward, 
Charlemange came here with his whole court 
and remained eight months. I came across a. 
little German poem the other day, written long 
ago by August Kopisch, which gives the tradi- 
tional discovery of "the Franks' ford." Per- 
haps my "lone sister" may be interested in a, 
translation : — 



The best of all his heroes in Saxony lay dead, 
Thence Carolus Magnus, Kaiser, in dire disaster 
fled. 

"On to the Main, my soldiers, a ford we there must 

find, — 
But woe, — tlie mist lies forward, the foe crowds 

close behind!" 

Then Carolus sank down praying on knee beside his 

spear. 
When lo! tiie mist divided, while fortli there 

sprang a deer; 

She led her young in safety through to tlie other 

side, 
And thus by God's own favor the Franks the ford 

espied 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



241 



Then forward all pressed over, as Israel through 

tl^e sea, 
The Saxons, mist-enveloped, no ford beyond could 

see. 

Then struck the Kaiser Carol upon the sand his 

spear, 
And vowed, "It shall forever be called the Frank's 

ford here." 

But later back he came there with mighty warrior- 
band. 

By which he then had conquered the lovely Saxon 
land. 

But yonder on the river now shines a city proud, 
With noble sons and daughters, with wealth and 
fame endowed. 

And there has many a Kaiser been crowned with 

Carol's crown, 
And on his throne be-jeweled,in splendor sat him 

down. 

There oxen whole are roasted, there wine in foun- 
tains flows. 

There gifts for every poor man the horn of plenty 
s trows. 

The chief lord to the Kaiser lifts cup in Roemer's 

hall; 
With Kaiser-portraits covered gleams forth each 

glittering wall. 

With Kaiser-portraits covered o'er every inch of 

space, 
No later ruler's picture could find there now a 

place. 

Thus Germany's first Kaiser name for the city 

found, 
And Germany's last Kaiser was in this city 

crowned. 

Stirring and vivid have been the fortunes of 
the ancient city ; fierce and tireless the war- 
fares waged by opposing powers, for supremacy 
within its borders ; hard indeed is it to realize 



242 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

its vicissitudes of the past, as one walks through 
the handsome city of to-day. 

There are a few traces yet existing of the la- 
ter day fortifications of the town. One of these 
is the Eschenheimer tower, a noble specimen of 
mediiieval, defensive architecture. This tower 
has its tradition as follows : — 

Hans Winkelsee, a poacher, fired at a munici- 
pal gamekeeper and, after an imprisonment of 
nine months in this tower, was to be executed. 
He claimed to have fired only to frighten the 
keeper and not with intent to kill, as otherwise 
he certainly would have hit him. 

In order to show his unerring markmanship, 
he offered to shoot nine bullets in nine shots 
into the weather-vane of the tower ; as he suc- 
■ceeded, his life was spared and he was set at 
liberty. 

Frankfort has a fine cathedral but, though it 
occupies the site of a succession of previous sa- 
cred edifices running back to the ninth century, 
the present building is very modern, having been 
erected between the years 1869 and 1880, the 
structure immediately preceding having been 
destroyed by fire. There is a very peculiar mor- 
tuary memorial in the inclosed yard of this 
cathedral. It consists of a most realistic repre- 
sentation of the crucifixion, with life-sized 
figures and all the accompanying dreadful and 
agonizing details. These are wrought out in 
stone and are made still more conspicuous by be- 
ing raised upon an eminence of some two or three 
feet, which forms the base of the singular mon- 
ument erected to himself by some one whose 
name is duly inscribed on a tablet below, but 
which has entirely escaped me in the horror ex- 
cited by the grewsomeness of his taste in art. 
The cathedral was shown to me by a very pleas- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 243 

ant young man who, to his honor be it recorded, 
not only did not expect a tip, but actually 
declined it when offered. And to my great and 
increasing surprise, the same thing occurred here 
in " another church, that of St. Leonard's, and 
this episode was quite a refreshing incident in 
my experience. 

The churches of Germany are not so univer- 
sally accessible to visitors as in France, though 
I believe the Roman Catholic ones are always 
open. 

I have seen here none of that ceremonious and 
pompous display at funerals which is so com- 
mon in France, and am told that it finds no 
favor in Germany. The Germans, however, 
have one odd custom on such occasions, and that 
is the heading of the funeral train by a woman 
whom they style the Toten-Frau,, or "Death- 
Woman," whose office it is to prepare the body 
for the grave, and then clad in black, with long 
streamers from her sable cap, and with as many 
of the funeral garlands as she can carry, to 
march in front of the procession, — which is not 
made up, as with us, of a line of carriages, but 
simply an open hearse having canopy but no 
sides, — followed by men walking in couples. 
With the exception of the Toten-Frau, no wo- 
man takes part in German obsequies, so far as I 
have been able to ascertain. 

Frankfort has many modern public buildings 
of a noble and majestic order of architecture; 
especially may be noted the New Exchange, the 
General Post-Offlce, and the Grand Opera House. 
The Central Railway Station is a magnificent and 
artistic edifice costing, 1 am told, the sum of 
thirty-five million marks, or more than eight 
million dollars. 

There are also some remaining specimens of 



244 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

the beautiful timber architecture of the middle 
ages, of which the lioemer, or city-hall, is a re- 
markably handsome and interesting example, 
with decorations of marvelous variety and finish. 
The great festal-hall within, alluded to in the 
poem, is truly a splendid chamber. 

Goethe was born in Frankfort and his birth- 
place, a substantial structure of three stories, 
having dormer windows and a pointed gable 
having two stories more, has been thoroughly 
restored and is carefully preserved by the 
Frankforters. 

One especially odd building stands at the cor- 
ner of the Eschenheimer street; it is call Zum 
Kaiser Karl, or "The Emperor Charles," from 
the fact that Charles VII. lived in a house on 
the same site in 1742-3 and -4. The present edi- 
fice is not at all modern. The outside is adorned 
with allegorical figures representing pride, la- 
ziness, envy, avarice, intemperance, voluptuous- 
ness, and anger; also the virtues of charity, 
husbandry, valour, love, industry and honesty; 
further supplemented by illustrations of the do- 
mestic labors of the days of the week. The 
heads of these figures are particularly grotesque, 
and from this fact the house is called the Frat- 
zeneck, or "grimaces-corner." 

The streets of Frankfort, however, though 
usually well built, are not so pleasing as in many 
other places. The location is unfavorable to 
picturesque vistas, and as a rule there is too lit- 
tle variety in architecture. One of the finest 
and most important avenues is called the Zeil. 

Like most German towns, Frankfort has a de- 
lightful wooded park and numerous monuments 
to public men and events. The Gutenburg 
memorial commemorative of the invention of 
printing, is perhaps the most imposing of the 
latter. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 245 

The year 1866, diastrous to the fortunes of so 
many German provinces, terminated the in- 
dependence of Frankfort and led to its annexa- 
tion to Prussia. It evidently has no reason to 
regret its change of dynasty, and keeps on the 
even tenor of its way, a busy and prosperous 
city. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A run of two or three hours from Frankfort, 
through scenery gradually changing from a 
monotonous level to diversified heights of rare 
beauty, brings the traveler to that famous old 
town apostrophized so long ago by the German 
poet as : 

''Old Heidelberg, thou beauty. 
With many honors crowned, 

Along the Rhine or Neckar, 
No town like thee is found." 

The location is indeed charming; the little 
city lies at the foot of the lofty elevation from 
which the place takes its name, and upon the 
margin of the fine river Neckar which winds 
gently through this fertile valley. 

The objective point of interest to the sight- 
seer here, is the massive old castle towering 
aloft in ruined majesty upon the precipitous 
well-wooded hill called the Jettenbuehl. Diverse 
have been the fortunes of the old pile, since 
Rudolph I. built the most ancient part in 1204. 
In the Thirty Years War, the old structure suf- 
fered so much that it was rendered absolutely 
uninhabitable ; it was restored and fortified anew 
in 1649, only to be repeatedly blown up and 
pulled down by the French in the Orleans 
War, as fast as the breaches were repaired. 
After this war, the castle was again in a measure 
restored, when in 1764 it was struck by light- 
ning and the whole interior fell a sacrifice to 
the flames. Since then no further restorations 
have been attempted, but from 1830, the great- 

246 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 247 

est care has been exercised to preserve the ruins 
from further decay. 

The easiest and quickest way to ascend the 
mountain, is by funicular railway, though it is 
rather trying to susceptible nerves, the grade 
being so remarkably steep and the line passing 
through so many tunnels of inky darkness. 

On this hill there once stood an upper and 
a lower castle. That which is known to-day as 
"The Castle," is the lower structure and stands 
upon quite an extensive plateau about half way 
up the great hill. After this one had been com- 
pleted, the upper castle, which was the o'der, 
was used as an arsenal and powder magazine 
till it was struck by lightning in 1537; the ex- 
plosion was so terrible that not only the upper 
castle was almost entirely demolished, but the 
lower one and the town were seriously damaged. 
After this, the upper citadel remained forsaken 
until 1853, when a Ifolkenkuhr, or "Whey-Cure," 
was established at this point, the name of which 
has entirely superseded that of the "Old 
Castle," by which the place had been always 
known. 

From the topis seen a most splendid view; 
the castle ruins are particularly picturesque and 
have a certain desolate grandeur that is very 
impressive. At times the old pile is artificially 
illuminated and the effect from below is weird- 
ly beautiful. 

In the cellars of the lower castle lies the far- 
famed Heidelberg Tun of which school children 
learn with wonder. It is about twenty-four feet^ 
high and thirty-three feet long and its capacity 
is fifty thousand, nine hundred and twenty gal-. 
Ions. Lying in front of it is a small tun — so 
called — noted for ite artistic construction, being 
held together without hoops. Near by is ai 



248 ONE WOMAN WANDEKING 

statuette representing the dwarf, Clemens Per- 
keo, court fool of Karl Philipp, which dwarf, 
tradition states, drank daily from fifteen to 
eighteen bottles of strong wine. On the tenth 
of November, 1753, the great tun was filled for 
the first time, and, later on, twice again. Since 
the great fire at the castle, it has remained 
empty. There was a pump fitted to it, that 
passed up into the banquet room, thus render- 
ing the tun's contents easily accessible. 

The vault where it lies was probably con- 
structed for holding it, as no other one in the 
castle is lofty enough to accommodate it. 

A staircase leads up one side of the tun and 
down the other, and we tourists ascended and de- 
cended the same, dancing an extempore fandan- 
go on the top of the tremendous cask. 

Another cask called the lesser Heidelberg 
Tun, is in another vault and holds twenty thous- 
and gallons. 

Turning from things spiritous to things 
spiritual, we visit some of the churches of 
Heidelberg, which are ancient but in good pre- 
servation. The Holy Ghost Church, built in 
1400, was long the scene of a bitter religious 
strife. The reformation was begun here in 
1546, by preaching the gospel and administer- 
ing the sacrament in both forms; the Electoral 
House having turned Roman Catholic, the pos- 
session of the church was hotly contested. In 
1705 it was divided by a wall, the choir having 
been assigned to the Romanists and the nave to 
the Protestants. Then the Elector told the 
Protestants if they would resign their claim, he 
would build them a new church; they refused 
and the Elector, to use the vernacular, "got 
mad" and took forcible possession of the church, 
pulling down the wall. The Protestants ap- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 249 

pealtd to the Diet and the wall was rebuilt. In 
1886 it was pulled down again only to be put up 
once more in 1893 

I am moved to wonder if, in all this time, 
they ever gave any consideration to the text: 
"Behold how pleasant a thing it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity." Probably they did, 
but each one was convinced that it applied not 
to himself, but to "the other fellow." 

In St, Peter's Church is the tombstone of 
Olympia Fulvia Morata, "the most learned wo- 
man of the sixteenth century, who was warmly 
devoted to religion." Near this chui'ch is the 
old university founded in 1386 by Ruprecht the 
Red; this institution has flourished or declined 
iaccording to the fortunes of the town. At one 
time its possessions on the left bank of the 
Rhine, were coniiscated by the French, and the 
university was reduced to such poverty that it 
could not pay its professors for years. But 
better days dawned and in 1886 it celebrated its 
five-hundredth jubilee. 

Heidelberg College is situated on the oppo- 
site side of the river. This institution offers 
special advantages for acquiring modern lan- 
guages. 

In the High street is an ancient structure 
which escaped destruction by the French when 
they devastated the town in 1693. This is called 
the Bitterhaus, (the House of the Knight,) 
and is now used as a hotel. It was built in 1592 
by a French emigrant, and is in the style of the 
French renaissance. On the summit of the 
fagade is the bust of a knight, and the busts 
of four Prankish kings adorn the fourth story. 
Between the windows of the third story are the 
busts of the builder and his wife, with their 
arms and the inscription in Latin: "Except the 



250 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Lord bless the house, the labor of the builder is 
vain." Between the windows of the next lower 
story are the busts of the builder's two children. 

As this edifice is very narrow and there is no 
more place for likenesses, it is well that the 
builder's family was no more extensive, 

A handsome bridge decorated with sculp- 
tures leads from the Steingasse across to Neuen- 
heim, a suburb of Heidelberg. 

Lovely indeed is the view from this bridge; 
especially so as I saw it in the last rays of a 
vanishing sun on a mid-summer evening, just as 
the rising moon began to show its reflected splen- 
dor on the other hand. Toward the west the lin- 
gering glow of the sunset was tinting river and 
low-lying cloudlet, while in the east the silver 
gleams of the moonlight showed stronger and 
stronger, pouring over the dark bulk of the 
lofty hill and throwing out in clear relief the 
dismantled walls, the shattered buttresses and 
the gaping window-spaces of the ruined castle. 

It was a romantic and enchanting scene, 
and I wondered not at the enthusiasm of the 
bard previously quoted, nor that he should 
declare in closing, — 

"And oh! if thorns crowd thickly 

And life grows bleak and pale, 
I'll spur my steed right quickly 
And ride to Neckardale." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

From Heidelberg I took a brief trip into 
Switzerland, going first to Lucerne via Basle, that 
great busy junction of so many lines, with its 
handsome, modern station more like those of 
America in its appointments, than most others 
abroad, having many conveniences and privi- 
leges which are, alas, ail extra. Almost every 
one changes trains at Basle, which by the way, 
the Germans call "Bah-zle" and the French 
"Bahl," thus making much confusion and per- 
plexity for unsophisticated foreigners, as both 
languages are heard interchangeably through 
most portions of Switzerland. 

We passed through Freiburg, noting its 
great cathedral outlined against the summer 
sky. We soon began to perceive en route that 
we were really indeed entering the marvelous 
land of the Alps, for towering hills began to 
push out into view, threatening to bar our way 
as w-f) wound along the most level portions of 
the vale, skirting streams and frequently, to my 
extreme dissatisfaction, dashing through exceed- 
ingly long tunnels. 

The weather was enchanting, the scene con- 
stantly increased in beauty, and, when finally a 
succession of lakes suddenly stretched out before 
us, with the white-tipped mountains shining in 
the distance, no one in the compartment could 
repress an ejaculation of delight, and by the 
time we reached Lucerne, we were almost 
speechless with admiration. 

Lucerne the lovely ! Gifted indeed far be- 

251 



252 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

yond usual endowment, must be the pen or brush 
that could even in faint degree, fitly set forth 
its beauties. The gleaming waters of the river 
Reuss. so strangely green, rushing on in irre- 
sistable current surpassingly swift, through 
their rock-bound banks ; the majestic slopes that, 
tree-studded and diversified by quaint towers and 
ramparts, by stately villas and modest cottages, 
rise abruptly to the feet of greater heights a- 
bove; the gigantic Rigi on the left, the stupen- 
dous Pilatus on the right; while beyond and be- 
tween spring still loftier eminences, snow-crown- 
ed and sun-kissed, or wreathed in misty veils, 
far on high; and over all, blue and beautiful, 
the radiant immensity of exhilarant atmosphere 
losing itself in the infinity of ethereal space. 

Such phrases do but sketch in barest out- 
line the salient features of the ravishing loveli- 
ness bursting upon the beholder in this enrapt- 
uring region, yet give no true conception of the 
wondrous whole. For the first time I admit 
that my native land, though it may equal, can- 
not excel this peerless picture, and that over the 
great round earth one could scarcely find a 
scene so fair. 

Yet. why is this? Are there not mountains 
otherwhere? And lakes and streams and islets 
fair? And charm of sun and shade and sky? 
Not here alone has history's page been written 
over and folded back ; not here alone do ancient 
spire and tower antique rise side by side with 
palace new and modern cot ; nor only here the 
gay, light-hearted, brilliant throngs, meeting, 
separating, shifting back and forth, like the 
glittering atoms of some huge kaleidoscope. 
How is it then that over all there seems to lie 
some mystic glamour so filling one's vision that 
one rests content to gaze, beatified as never be- 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 253 

fore? Perhaps it is the blending in one broad 
sweep of the eyes, of all these features in their 
loveliness of vaiied charm, that so delights and 
enchants. 

From all parts of the civilized world, come 
summer visitors to this beautiful spot, and many 
indeed are the sons and daughters of our own 
fair country gathered here. To all such indeed, 
were it a work of supererogation to dwell upon 
the attractions, either natural or artistic, of 
Lucerne; the pictures upon memory's tablets are 
fairer far than can be evoked by words of mine. 
But to her "the lone sister," who has been my 
inspiration in these desultory lines, and whose 
migrations are yet in the future, may be given 
perchance even in these inadequate jottings, 
some slight meed of pleasure or information. 

The history of Lucerne dates back to 735, 
when was fc-unded the convent of St Leodegar. 
Thrilling and momentous have been the events 
that gradually evolved this fine and picturesque 
modern city from the primitive little assem- 
blage of fishermen's huts, once clustering about 
the convent walls on the banks of the river 
Reuss. 

This magnificent river, to whose rapid flow 
and deep green tint I have already alluded, runs 
directly through the wealthy and fashionable 
portion of the place, from the Lake of Four 
Cantons along the banks of which the city 
spreads out continuing lines. The shores of the 
stream are built up with solid masonry, forming 
a broad and elegant promenade, or quay on 
both sides, protected by iron railings and set 
out in lovely chestnut trees. All along this 
boulevard is a succession of handsome structures 
of most varied architecture, broad and low, as 
is the custom in this part of the world. 



254 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The fine railway station of cream-colored 
stone, with noble vestibule and imposing cupola, 
all spacious and well-lighted and almost spot- 
lessly clfan, first attracts one's attention, then 
the wonderful panorama of lake and mountain, 
stream and sky, ruin, rampart, cottage, villa, 
promenade and people, flashes upon one's gaze. 

I have spoken at ditferent times of the many 
grand stations in various places on the continent, 
and again of how unfavorably they compare with 
our own, and I will pause here to explain this 
seeming discrepancy. In general, so far as con- 
cerns artistic design, elegant spaciousness, 
tasteful decoration, beautiful grounds and al- 
most absolute cleanliness, the stations abroad 
far surpass our own; but in practical details, 
in convenience and comfort, in accessibility and 
completeness of all things necessary for the in- 
formation and speeding of the average traveler, 
ours are far ahead. Many things that we in 
America take as a matter of course, such as 
toilet conveniences, drinking water, and so 
forth, may be had here, it is true, but not with- 
out money and without price, as with us. 

Close to the station in Lucerne, is the fine 
Seehruecke, or Lake-Bridge, fifty-two feet wide 
and five hundred feet long, built of stone at 
great expense some eighteen years ago. But 
still more charming to one who likes to muse 
over relics of a by-gone age, are two quaint old 
bridges that have stood stretching across this 
rushing current for hundreds of years. 

One of these, the Kapellhruecke , crossing the 
river diagonally, is a curious structure dating 
from 1333, and is built entirely of wood, which 
is sound and strong to-day. It is perhaps eight 
feet wide and is approached by a few wooden 
steps. The sides are inclosed to a height of 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 255 

possibly three feet, and queer wooden posts at 
regular intervals on each side, support a pointed 
roof that covers the entire structure. In the 
triangular spaces formed by the peak of the roof 
and the junction of its sides with each pair of 
opposing posts, are fitted smooth boards upon 
which is painted a succession of historical pic- 
tures, queer and interesting in the extreme. 

Here are depicted the heroic deeds and suffer- 
ings of the old Switzers and their patron saints, 
Xieodegar and Maurice, from the most primitive 
times down to the medigeval period. Under each 
picture is inscribed one or more of those rhym- 
ing couplets in which the German of the Middle 
Ages so delighted to express himself, as I 
have had occasion to note before ; and while the 
Switzer is not a German, yet there is enough 
■similarity between the German language and his 
own to imbue him with much the same shade of 
thought and expression. The colors in the pic- 
tures are dimmed and the script nearly effaced ; 
one must go on step by step, with eyes raised and 
head thrown back, in Order to see them at all. 

Nearly half way across in the midst of this 
iDridge, stands an old octagonal tower. The 
municipal treasure was stored here in the long 
ago and the tower was also used as a govern- 
mental prison ; it is said to have contained a 
torture chamber. Some authors state that this 
tower was a light-house in the time of the Ro- 
mans, but it is more commonly believed to have 
formed a part of the fortifications that sur- 
rounded Lucerne ia the thirteenth century. 

The other old bridge, called the Spreuer or 
3Iuehlenhruecke, is a century younger than the 
filrst one. This also has paintings in the roof, 
old and dim but more decipherable than those 
first described. This series was painted in the 



256 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

sixteenth century by Casper Meglinger,and rep- 
resents the Dance of Death. 

How this old town has changed since first 
these bridges spanned the rapid river. How the 
Lucerners themselves have changed in custom, 
in attire, in deed and in thought. Fancy the 
stern, almost savage citizen of the Middle Ages, 
stalking across here in his coat of mail, armed 
with battle-ax or two handed sword; or possibly 
astride his war charger also in armor, with spurs 
jangling and accoutrements clashing. No pro- 
vision w^as made for the passage of a carriage, 
and great, no doubt, would have been his amaze- 
ment had such a conveyance been even suggested 
to him. But they are all gone, though the 
bridges remain, still echoing to the tread of 
busy feet as in centuries past. 

Every means for the enjoyment and enter- 
tainment of visitors seems to have b(-en supplied 
by nature and skill in this region. A landscape 
of infinite variety, mountain, forest, vale, meadow,, 
lake and stream, a bracing yet genial atmos- 
phere, sun and shade in pleasing contrast, lovely 
drives and devious foot-paths leading through 
bosky dells and leafy glens at every hand ; while 
train, steamer, gondola and skiff glide back and 
forth, ready to convey to greater distances, 
through scenes of equal beauty. 

Should skies prove unkind or should, at 
times, even the worship of lovely natu)-e become 
too great a strain, one may turn for change and 
recreation to the fine library and reading-room, 
to the great museum, to the interesting churches, 
to the vast cathedral with its daily sacred con- 
cert, to the many theaters, exhibitions and so 
forth, or to the mediseval remnants of another 
day and generation. 

A singular feature in the landscape at Lu- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 257 

cerne, is the Musegg, an irregular line of graj- 
ramparts on the heights above the town, v/here 
nine old watch towers rise up at intervals, their 
antique architecture and the uncertainty hang- 
ing over their exact origin and purpose, combin- 
ing to invest all with a peculiar, romantic 
interest. 

On an eminence to the west of the city, above 
the dwellings dotting the slope and the woods 
in the background, may be seen a commodious 
edifice with a slender and elegant turret. This 
is the famous Goetsch, whereon is a summer 
hotel and pleasure-garden. One reaches this 
point easiest by a miniature funicular railway, 
five hundred and ninety-one feet long, of which 
the motive power is water, The gradient is 
fifty-three yards in one hundred. 

Although the Goetsch is only a hill in this 
land of mountains, yet it commands a surpris- 
ingly fine view of the picturesque city on the 
Reuss at its feet, and of the lake as far back as 
the huge bulk of the Rigi and of the Burgen- 
stock; above which the Alps of the Unterwalden, 
with the snowy dome of mighty Titlis conspicu- 
ously visible, pierce the southern sky. A skil- 
ful arrangement of great mirrors in the large 
reception salon of the Goetsch, overlooking the 
view, duplicates the wonderful prospect with a 
bewildering effect of vastness. 

With such a wealth of material on every side, 
from which one must cull but a few specimens 
to represent the magnificent whole, one becomes 
confused in trying to make a, in any ■v^ise, sat- 
isfactory selection, wavering here and there be- 
tween this point and that, and possibly at last 
leaves unnoted some most characteristic feature 
or scene. 

Fain would I dwell on the historic interest 



258 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

and esthetic details of the great Hof-Kirche, on 
the imposing architecture of the Post and Tele- 
graph Office, the impressive style of the Kur- 
haus, or the graceful ovitlines of the Government 
Building, the Museum, the Town Hall and so 
forth, and above all, on their harmonious rela- 
tion to each other and to their environment in 
general; but all these triumphs of the builder's 
art, while adding as they do to the diversified 
charm of this entrancing spot, are yet so cast 
into insignificance by the grandeur and beauty 
of their natural setting, that one passes them 
with a cursory glance as the eyes rove onward 
from the fair fields and forests sloping upward 
from the gleaming waters, to the majestic 
masses of emerald declivity or somber crag or 
snowy peak, shouldering against the blue em- 
pyrean. 

Among all these beauties there are a few of 
special, local interest, which one should not fail 
to visit; one of these is the romantic nook con- 
taining the famous "Lion of Lucerne." 

This moniiment sculptured by Ahorn in 1821, 
from the solid rock, after a model by Thorwald- 
sen, — which model, by the way, is to be seen in 
a little curio-shop across the road, — commemo- 
rates the desperate struggle of the Swiss guards 
before the Tuileries, under the onslaught of the 
Jacobins, August 10, 1792. After a most heroic 
resistance, two battalions were overpowered by 
the revolutionists, and on the second and third 
of September, the remainder also fell at their 
post. 

A winding way leads on through wide cheerful 
streets and leafy avenues, up a gentle ascent to 
a secluded dell where, in the shade of noble 
trees, behind a miniature sheet of water, rises a 
perpendicular rock sixty feet in height. In 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 259 

the midst of a great recess hollowed out from 
these granite walls, prone upon a shield and 
spear and battle-axe, lies a wounded lion of gi- 
gantic proportions, defending even in death the 
charge intrusted to him. Graven above, is the 
brief legend: '■'•Helvetiornm fldei ac vit^tute,'" 
and below, the names of the officers with the 
date of the tragic event. There is a dignity 
and repose about this majestic composition, that 
seems to proclaim the ineffable though intan- 
gible recompense of brave deeds nobly done, 
even unto death. 

With a gravity engendered by the contempla- 
tion of this artistic memorial with its multitu- 
dinous suggestions as to man's mighty possibili- 
ties in his highest exaltation of moral and physi- 
cal courage, one turns to follow the little path 
that goes meandering on. 

Almost at once, one's reflections are trans- 
ferred from the achievements of art and the 
powers of man, to the mysteries of the universe; 
for within a few yards one comes upon an unique 
spectacle called ''The Glacier Garden." Here 
is a very interesting natural phenomenon con- 
sisting of nine "pot-holes," — so named, — of an 
ancient glacier. They were discovered by acci- 
dent in 1872, when excavating for the founda- 
tions of a building. The largest of these holes 
is twenty-six feet in diameter and thirty-one 
feet deep. They are supposed to have been hol- 
lowed out in pre-historic times, by the action of 
the glacier then extending through this district. 
The water that found its way through the fis- 
sures of the ice, imparted a rotary motion to the 
stones also finding their way down through the 
crevices, and in course of time these stones, 
grinding around upon the rock beneath, formed 
these circular "pot-holes," in which the stones 



260 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

were left as the glacier receded. There are 
many wonderful objects, natural and manufac- 
tured, in this garden, but this exposition of the 
stupendous forces of nature, silent, slow, but 
irresistible, working away from the dim ages of 
the past, is most curious and remarkable. 

The summer evening was well advanced when 
I left this interesting spot and retraced my steps 
over the pleasant route along which I had come. 

The streets lay picturesque and peaceful in 
the luminous twilight, the way growing brighter 
and more brilliant as I neared the broad quay, 
where the electric lights were flashiHg and quiv- 
ering through the tremulous foliage of the 
stately chesnuts rustling in the cool, lake breeze. 

From out the elegant gardens of the splendid 
hostelries, fair with perfumed leaf and vivid 
blossom, rolled forth most witching strains of 
jocund melody, while on the quay joyous groups, 
assembled from every clime, kept step in con- 
cord with the pulsing cadences. 

Beyond the low parapet, the lake was rippling 
and sparkling in the rays of the mellow moon 
riding afar in the illimitable sky; the snow- 
capped peaks were gleaming on high in a beauty 
of heavenly purity, while, dotted with glittering 
points from cotter's candle or luxury's lamp, the 
shadows lay heavy on the hillsides below. 

Gay gondolas were gliding hither and yon, 
their colored lanterns making stars of fire, that 
glowed again from the bosom of the waters. 

My path lay onward across the handsome 
Seehruecke, down along the riverside, beneath 
whispering trees and past plashing fountains, 
to a quiet inn, from the windows of which, as I 
sank to slumber, my eyes looked out upon the 
rugged bulk of grim Pilatus standing stern sen- 
tinel immovable forever, above the magic beauty 
and bewildering; charm of lake-laved Lucerne. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Chief among the many delightful excursions 
possible from the romantic city of Lucerne, is, 
perhaps, a tour of the lovely sheet of water com- 
monly known as Lake Lucerne, otherwise the 
Lake of Four Cantons, or the Vierwaldstaet- 
ter See. 

Indissolubly associated with this vicinity and 
recalled at once by its name, is the history, tra- 
ditional or otherwise, of William Tell, whose 
heroic deeds gleam forth so brilliantly from this 
marvelous setting, in the radiance of Schiller's 
immortal genius. 

It was a charming day in mid-summer that I 
stepped aboard the elegant little steamer that 
daily makes the round of this grandly picturesque 
lake, and settled myself for a period of uninter- 
rupted inspection of this renowned "treasure- 
house of natural beauties." 

The attractive little vessel was filled with a 
happy, animated throng, and accents of diverse 
nationalities fell upon the ear as we steamed 
away from the wide quay. 

At the very outset one is entranced by the 
aspect of the little harbor itself, with its gardens, 
its villas and its ancient towers lying back on, 
and rising from the verdant slopes, and climb- 
ing the steeper sides of the great hills and 
promontories that intervene between the bery- 
line waters of the broad bay and the huge 
mountains in the farther distance. 

As we glide out into the lake, the view continu- 
ally changes and, as one grand and dazzling peak 



262 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

falls back or presents to us a new angle of ob- 
servation, we get glimpses of other still more 
stupendous elevations ; while across the gleam- 
ing tide, transiently visible above a depression 
in the high outline of the nearer crags, the 
monarcLs of the Bernese Oberland, Lauterhorn, 
Wetterhorn, Schreckerhorn and the peerless 
Jungfrau etched sharply above in icy splendor, 
move for a brief moment into our field of vision. 
The small isle of Alstad with tiny chalet 
peeping forth from shades of living green, lies 
almost in our path as we round the Meggerhorn 
and enter the Kreuzrichter where we find our- 
selves in the spacious expanse formed by the 
meeting of the lake's four great arms; each of 
which, having its own fair quota of matchless 
landscape, reaches ofi^ in the distance. Kuss- 
nacht to the north to where the narrow, wooded 
isthmus divides from Lake Zug; Alpnacht to the 
south flowing on past the base of gigantic Pila- 
tus ; behind us to the west, the shining stretch 
over which we have come; while eastward, 
Weggis spreads out before us until some slight 
change in our direction, brings us abreast of a 
range of mighty precipices that seem to bar our 
progress completely. But the little boat is un- 
dismayed and skilfully feels its way along the 
threatening shores, and lo ! a silvery channel 
opens out again and we wind on amid untel'able 
delights. 

The area of Lake Lucerne is about forty-four 
square miles ; its surface is fourteen hundred and 
thirty-two feet above sea-level ; its greatest 
length, from Lucerne to Fluelen, twenty-three 
and one half miles and greatest width a little 
more than two and one half. 

While partial freezing has taken place at ir- 
regular intervals, the congealing of its entire 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 263 

expanse is unrecorded either by history or tra- 
dition. The banks of the lake display a re- 
markable diversity of character. Some anony- 
mous writer has said: — "Here the boundary is the 
broad end of an Alpine valley ; yonder it is a 
steep precipice rising from the very margin of 
the waters ; elsewhere it is an expanse of grassy 
meadow-]and affording pasturage to numerous 
herds of sleek cattle, and planted with row upon 
row of thriving fruit-trees. At the point where 
the larger valleys open, the eye penetrates to the 
mountain heights some of which are carpeted 
with rich pastures and dotted with chalets, 
while others appear rocky and barren, and yet 
others loftiest of all, display their spotless ves- 
ture of eternal snow." 

But it matters not what phase of prospect is 
presented; for whether bounded by mighty 
bluffs and cragged cliffs close at hand, or stretch- 
ing back into the woodland shades and smiling 
loveliness of pastoral scenes, or rising aloft in 
dizzy heights of unapproachable grandeur, it 
entrances the imagination and dominates the 
soul by alternating sublimity and romance, 
magnificence and unutterable charm. 

All along, sheltered from rough winds, em- 
bowered in groves and vines, and almost within 
stone's throw of one another, nestle quaint lit- 
tle villages, picturesque and cheerful ; while 
scattered everyw^here from the water's edge to 
dizzying heights, rise villas, cottages, pensions, 
restaurants, hotels and so forth, in often appar- 
ently inaccessible locations. 

And now we go on under the shadow of the 
huge Eigi and its mighty neighbors standing to- 
gether in everlasting majesty. A bright ray of' 
sunshine picks out and glows back from a lofty 
crag of vivid red, that towers far above the; 



264 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

small village of Vitznau charmingly set out 
against a background of somber green. 

As in a dream of delight we go on and on and 
on. Again the waters narrow before us as we 
approach two great precipices which leave us no 
visible means of egress ; but another dextrous 
shift of our wise little vessel, and we pass be- 
tween the opposing promontories called Die 
JSfasen, (The Noses,) which are separated here 
by a distance of less than a thousand yards. 

After this we reach Gersau with its bulky 
mountain rearing its proud crest above, and 
make our way out again from the little port so 
shut in by rocky walls, past the romantic chapel 
Klindlmord, that has for uncounted years lifted 
its quaint turret here to the chaQgeful sky. 

And now so stupendous a spectacle bursts 
upon the vision, that the average mind sinks 
down aghast, realizing that nothing but the 
sublimity of genius should venture to portray 
the sublimity of nature. Here in one mighty 
panorama, opens one of the grandest of Alpine 
landscapes, disclosing the wondrous eminences 
of the Schwytz, with the frightful steeps and 
naked summit of the Mythen towering in the 
background. Here as before, on every hand 
rise wooded height and rugged rock, with cot and 
villa, chalet and 2^^^sion, dotted all abroad on 
shady slope or sunny elevation, until far above, 
imposing pinnacles and frowning crags loom in- 
accessible ; and over all and pervading all with 
its mingled charm of sun and sea and sky and 
shore, the radiant, indefinable atmosphere of 
summer Switzerland. 

Each picture presenting itself as our craft 
turns and winds through the sea-green waves, 
;seems fairer, grander, more sublime than aught 
before. The soul aches with a pervading pain 
of dumb and awful admiration. 



ONE WOMAN ^\ANDEJRING 265 

Now we round a seemingly impassable barrier 
and turn into a quiet little harbor where a curv- 
ing pier stretches out into the still waters. There 
is no village here in view, only an antique and 
venerable inn call the Trieb, whose high-peaked 
roof, projecting stories and exterior decorations 
are all along the lines of the wonderful timber 
architecture of central G-ermany, This old edi- 
fice is largely identified with the actual and 
legendary history of these shores. It rests 
partly on piers in the lake, and partly on the 
solid rock of the bank, and stands embosomed 
in forest trees and decked with velvet moss, un- 
der the overhanging bastions of the eternal 
hills ; the soft, natural grays of its roof and 
walls, blending harmoniously into the dull 
greens and browns of its umbrageous nest. 

Around the next headland not far from here, 
we note a pyramidal rock rising abruptly from 
the lake; divided but by an exceedingly narrow 
■channel from the perpendicular clilf behind. Of 
a whitish tint, it stands out distinctly above 
the heaving waves and presents to the beholder 
its unchanging face, upon which is graven an 
inscription in honor of Schiller, A fitting mon- 
ument, in its immutability amid the billowy 
waters foaming about its everlasting base, to the 
rgreat poet whose undying verse has so perpetu- 
ated the glories of Switzerland and her band of 
heroes. 

Still passing from one romantic and interest- 
ing point to another, still crossing and re-cross- 
ing the crystal sea as one or another of the tiny 
villages presents itself on either side, we reach 
Brunnen situated in the midst of verdure, with 
pretty promenades and public grounds, and con- 
secrated by its souvenirs of the Eise of the 
Swiss Confederation; and now we enter upon 



266 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

the last branch of the lake, a beautiful basin 
shut in by rocky banks and stupendous moun- 
tains. 

On the right, high above, stretched beneath 
the walls of still loftier overhanging crags, lies 
the Ruetli, a steep meadow surrounded by 
stately trees. This is the most sacred spot in 
Switzerland and celebrated in song and story, 
for here on November seventh, 1307, Fuerst of 
Uri, Stauffacher of Schwytz and Anderhalden of 
Unterwald, each backed by a few devoted adher- 
ents, formed a league in the name of their can- 
tons, against the despotic rule of Austria. Schil- 
ler makes thrilling use of the dramatic elements 
of this episode in his great work. The Ruetli is 
regarded as a national place of pilgrimage and 
every year is visited by processions of schools 
and societies of all descriptions. Peaceful and 
secluded it looks, far above our heads, accessi- 
bly only by a rocky pathway through the 
tangled groves. 

The view from this point onward seems to in- 
crease, if possible, in beauty and grandeur. On 
the left appear the granite heights of Ober-and 
Nieder-Bauenstock, and yet these are almost 
dwarfed by the imposing immensity of massive 
Urirothstock rising like some vast citadel from 
the lake below to the clouds above, where its 
snowy summit towers impregnable. Still we 
make our way over the clear waters that reflect 
so vividly the picturesque hamlets and blooming 
terraces coming into view wherever the stony 
walls recede enough to grant a few acres of foot- 
hold. We leave Sisikon and Bauen and Isleton 
behind us, reaching Tellsplatte, the spot where 
Tell is said to have escaped from the tyrant's 
boat. The chapel bearing Tell's name stands 
close to the water's edge and is visited every 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 267 

year by the country people in solemn proces- 
sional. How the present vanishes and the 
intervening centuries roll away from one's con- 
sciousness, as one gazes upon the diminutive 
temple with its unpretending walls and modest 
spire hidden from view by rocks and twining 
shrubbery, except at the water-front, from which 
its few steps ascend immediately into the plain 
little portico. Above rises magnificent Axen- 
fluh flanked by sky-piercing Urirothstock, while 
straight before us, the pyramid of jagged Bris- 
tenstock lifts up its lofty brow. Beautiful Seel- 
isbeig and mighty Fronalpstock greet us anew 
from the other side, looking down from the re- 
moter distance ; while all about and everywhere 
are new vistas of enchantment, until at last we 
reach Fluelen where the boat pauses for an hour 
or so before starting on its homeward journey. 
There is a wonderful carriage-road, wide and 
hard, from Weggis to Fluelen, which is thought 
by many to surpass in variety and grandeur of 
natural scenery, any other highway in the 
world. Lying along the lake and following its 
changeful and meandering contour, it winds on, 
now skirting sunny meadows, now penetrating 
leafy shades or rounding giddy precipices, now 
drilled in archways through solid rock. It is 
divided into four sections, the first of which 
stretches along through a delightful series of 
green pastures, beautiful groves and charming 
lake aspects ; the second and third are more ro- 
mantic, commanding the banks of the Weggis 
and Brunnen basins, and presenting witching 
glimpses of the Rigi, the Urmiberg,the Mythen, 
the Seelisberg and many others ; while the last 
section is the celebrated Axenstrasse, leading 
along the east shore from Brunnen to Fluelen, 
and forming a part of a system of mountain 



268 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

highways constructed by the Swisfe government 
many years ago. 

The St. Gothard railway is also visible at 
times along these shores but disappears into the 
depths of every huge hill. All along here, 
picturesqueness again rises to grandeur and 
beauty to sublimity, and once more words fail 
to convey an idea of the ravishing scene. The 
limpid lake with its emerald tinge ; the varying 
green of groves and gardens fair in the distance ; 
rocks strangely grotesque rising far above; 
dimly lighted tunnels with openings here and 
there through which renewed glimpses are 
caught of mountain and lake and wonderful 
views of the distant Alps ; while every place is 
replete with souvenirs of the ancient heroes of 
Switzerland. 

From Fluelen one may return to Lucerne by 
railway, if preferring a change of route. Of this 
privilege I now availed myself, plunging into 
fresh beauties as well as looking on former ones 
from another equally bewildering point of view. 

Snowy summits, awful abysses, emerald 
slopes, ragged rocks, sparkling waters, luxuriant 
meadows, barren crags, fertile valleys, gay 
watering-places, w^oodland heights, handsome 
stations, trim terraces, picturesque chalets, cosy 
farm houses, elegant villas, vi^onderful bridges 
and inky tunnels are all whirled about through 
my mind in inextricable confusion, as I step 
from the train and seek the seclusion of my 
modest inn. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

To the ascending of mountains by railway in 
this era of marvelous engineering and enterprise, 
there is no end ; but it is not so very long ago, 
in fact I believe but forty years, since the 
system that has made this variety of excursion 
feasible and safe, was provided to the world. 
To the United States, records say, belongs the 
honor of having given birth to the man whose 
peculiar genius "evolved from his inner con- 
sciousness," this unique method that has 
proved so adaptable in scaling tremendous 
heights- 

It was in 1858 that Sylvester Marsh, of Little- 
ton, New Hampshire, received a charter to 
practically apply his ingenious mechanism to the 
ascent of Mount Washington. That road was 
finished in 1869, that of the Rigi in 1871, and 
since then their name is legion both in our own 
country and abroad. 

Though both in America and in the old 
world, there are peaks more lofty and mountains 
more s'upendous than the Rigi yet this has a 
distinctive charm in its wonderful situation be- 
tween three lakes, — rising abruptly from their 
very margins, — and the incomparable scenery, of 
which its own magnificent loveliness is but a 
fragmentary portion; and it has the additioDal 
advantage of being accessible from either side, 
so that the necessity of doubling back to any 
great extent upon one's route is avoided, and in 
one trip is combined a surprising variety of out- 
look. 



270 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

There are a number of footways up the Rigi; 
from every steamboat handing as well as from 
every St. Gotharcl railway station in the 
vicinity, is a well-defined path, each of which is 
thronged with hardy and ambitious pedestrians 
pressing onward to the heights above. There 
are also three railway routes, of which the 
Vitznau-Rigi is the oldest and perhaps the most 
comprehensive. 

The skies were fair and the waters sparkling 
as we left Lucerne on the small vessel that plies 
between that city and Vitznau, 

After a rvm of less than an hour we arrived, 
and disembarking, crossed the picture-like little 
Platz to the railway station. Here we found 
our observation car arranged with nicely tilted 
seats inclined in just the requisite degree to 
keep us on a level up the great slope, and our 
ungainly locomotive, ponderous and panting, all 
ready to begin the powerful push that was to 
send us steadily on our way heavenward for 
thousands of feet. As is customary in such as- 
cents, but one car was given to each engine. 

Contrary to our previous mountain experience, 
we find every pound of luggage must be weighed 
and paid for. And I may mention here that a 
lady traveling alone in Switzerland is at much 
disadvantage regarding her hand-luggage, for 
porters are not allowed, even by paying a gate 
fee, to enter the trains, and, the carriages being 
set up on high wheels and en'ered from the end 
platforms, like ours in America, it is impossible 
for her to avoid lifting and handling her m- 
pedimeiita herself. She must either receive her 
property from the porter at the outer steps and 
lug it into the ear, or else through the window 
from the inside ; and in either case must heave 
them herself up into the high receptacles over- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 271 

head, as the cars are too small and the available 
space too contracted to admit of their being 
placed elsewhere. Many foreigners, noting the 
difference between Swiss cars and the ordinary 
continental carriage, fancy that the former are 
like American cars ; they do resemble the latter 
somewhat on the outside, being entered from the 
ends and set up on high trucks, though they 
lack utterly the finish of our railway coaches ; 
l)Ut the Swiss car is much smaller than ours, 
and the interior is very different. True the 
passage runs lengthwise instead of across the 
carriage, but it is veiy narrow and, instead of 
running through the middle and dividing the 
car in halves, it is nearer one side than the 
other, leaving on the one hand, space for a row 
of small, single seats, and on the other, a row of 
double ones ; and, while the carriage is not 
divided off into closed compartments, it is 
divided by breast high partitions between each 
set of opposing seats, though there are no doors 
within ; the whole arrangement is close and in- 
convenient, though a vast improvement on the 
■compulsory confinement system in other parts 
of Europe. 

The car that we enter to-day, however, 
specially adapted to mountain travel, is exactly 
like a large, open street-car, with three excep- 
tions ; first, its "up-tiltedness ;" second, gates 
at the two ends of every two opposite rows of 
seats or benches that run quite across the car 
from side to side ; and third, a small compart- 
ment in the rear, wherein our luggage, reduced 
to the smallest possible compass, is stowed away. 

We are an anim ited and expectant party from 
almost all quarters of the globe; diverse and 
polyglot are the accents that greet the ear. Let 
not my "lone sister" be dismayed; she will 



272 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

probably hear her native tongue; if not she has 
only to show her ticket and point to her luggage, 
and a railway porter will take her in charge 
with safety. But lest she may picture in her 
"mind's eye" something akin to the trim-uni- 
formed train men of our lines, I will say that 
the continental porter wears the unmistakable 
garb of a laboring man, and either upon his 
cap or upon a chain about his neck, he bears a 
huge metal number, which it is well to take 
cognizance of, for future recollection in case 
anything goes wrong. However, they are usually 
very civil and anxious to please; the fee must 
be paid by the traveler as, though the porters 
are licensed they are not recompensed by the 
railway. 

In our motley throng, cycling costumes 
mainly more serviceable than elegant prevail, 
though no wheels are in evidence; several tour- 
ists are supplied with sturdy but unmanageable 
alpenstocks, that stick out in all directions and 
get into everybody's way. 

We are soon in motion, beginning to ascend 
almost from the very verge of the waters, and 
at once leaving behind us the charming village 
lying so snugly in its cosy nooks and angles 
against the mountain side. 

Rushing upward through chesnut groves, we 
dash into a murky tunnel, then over a wildly 
romantic bridge of skilful but terrifying con- 
struction, and pause for a moment at Freibergen^ 
Station, thirty-three hundred feet above sea 
level. From this point on, the scene is all one 
bewildering vision of beauty unutterable. The 
lake drops away from us like a falling mirror ; 
gazing downward at our left, we see its glitter- 
ing surface sinking lower and lower, as we 
mount the dizzy elevations between which and 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 273 

the shining depths below, nothing whatever is 
visible to indicate that we are otherwise than 
poised without support in this realm of light 
and radiance through which we are speeding. 

A. glance toward our right scarcely reassures 
us, for here close at hand, less than an arm's 
length from the side of the car, impregnable 
battlements of everlasting rock tower straight 
upward, iipon the perpendicular surfaces of 
which, no slightest foot-hold or hand-clutch were 
possible even in the direst emergency. But the 
incomparable grandeur and splendor of our po- 
sition serves to engulf all thoughts of mortal 
risk, and we breathe into our very souls a spirit 
of magic enchantment. 

Now the outlook changes ; mountains begin 
to show their crests around within our range of 
view ; we swerve away from the dizzy verge as 
the crowding crags fall back, while our eyes, 
but this moment gazing abroad into apparently 
illimitable space, now rest on emerald slope and 
wide plateau, with terrace on terrace of vivid 
bloom and verdure reaching back to the confines 
of a park-like forest. Here is situated the far- 
famed sanitarium of Eigi-Kaltbad, adjacent to 
which are some of the loveliest views from the 
Rigi. At this point another mountain-route 
meets our line and some of our passengers leave 
us, disappearing round the curves that lead to 
the great hotels in that direction. We who re- 
main, continue in our upward course through 
rocky cuttings, over frightful trestles round 
giddy precipices, through bosky shades, up and 
up and ever up, until after an interval, as we 
come to the fine Hotel Staffel, there all at once 
opens before us the immense prospect of the 
wondrous hill-country of northeast Switzerland, 
lovely, magnificent, infinite. 



274 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Still onward, higher and higher, toward the 
summit far above ; while advancing, receding, 
ever changing but ever entrancing, appear and 
vanish the contrasting beauties of the marvelous 
outlook. 

Vista after vista opens out, falls back and 
fades beneath us, until at last we find ourselves 
at the summit, where, a little below the rounded 
grassy top, stands the imposing Hotel Eigi-Kulm. 

Now verily do the limitations of language 
•press sore upon us as we look abroad on the 
overpowering grandeur of the prospect. What 
words indeed can depict with justice, a land- 
scape more than two hundred miles in diameter? 
Here the undulating, ever varied hill-country 
toward the north ; yonder the Black Forest and 
the Vosges Mountains stretching onward ; in the 
imiddle ground, lake after lake in limpid loveli- 
mes-s reflecting back fair heaven and wooded 
beight ; while far away to the southward, glit- 
tering in snowy splendor, sublime and unsullied 
ats in creation's dawn, rises range after range 
©f towering pinnacles, silent, majestic, immov- 
able save by the same almighty force that placed 
them there in awful magnitude, eternal, "rock- 
ribbed and ancient as the sun." 

River courses wind beneath us, and meander- 
ing roads, like lengths of ribbon as they wander 
away; fair meadow-lands stretch onward and 
white towns and villages shine forth from leafy 
recesses; while on the Rigi itself and forming a 
part of its mighty bulk, are rock and ridge, 
declivity and dale, fertile plain and barren crag, 
bowery dell, gleaming cascade, mountain rill, 
rich pastures and picturesque structures, all en- 
veloped in one bewitching haze of ineflPable love- 
liness. 

It is impossible to drink one's fill of the glor- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 275 

ious scene, and we turn aside exhausted yet un- 
satisfied. But as our eyes drop from all this 
splendor of natural beauty and fall at last to 
things at hand and lying literally at our feet, 
we begin to note what a diversified little world 
it is here immediately about us, on the small, 
irregular plateau. 

First and foremost is the great hotel with its 
spacious verandas, glittering windows and wide 
corridors. A little removed from this are two 
or three other roomy edifices for accommodating 
the "overflow" in the busy season. Around a 
little bluff where the path turns to reach the 
extreme summit, stands a Post-Office, diminu- 
tive indeed but complete in all modern require- 
ments, including telegraph, telephone and sup- 
plies of stationery and picture postal-cards. 
Just below the hotel and reached by a long flight 
of steps, is the neat little station of the railway 
terminus. 

Following the path to the upper plateau, we 
suddenly find ourselves in the midst of a minia- 
ture, open-air bazar, for a dozen or more knick- 
nack venders have taken up their stand under 
spreading, cream-colored umbrellas, — for there 
are no trees at this height, — which shelter them- 
selves and their collections. Here trinkets of all 
descriptions pertaining to the Alpine region, are 
to be found at not exorbitant prices, pictures, 
curios, geological and floral specimens and so 
forth, while interested purchasers are gathered 
about in shifting groups. 

For the first time the widely famed Edelweiss 
comes under our observation, being offered for 
sale in profusion with Alpine roses, so called. 
There is no chaffering and the dealers are re- 
spectful and quiet. 

Men, women and children of confusingly di- 



276 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

verse sorts and conditions, wander hither and 
yon, or stand entranced, rapt in the glorious 
prospect abroad. 

A group of Alpine singers, male and female, 
in picturesque, peasant costumes, have made the 
ascent on foot from some one of the neighboring 
hamlets, and are now refreshing themselves 
with beer and black bread in the clear sunshine, 
occasionally bursting into fragments of song, or 
the melodious, far reaching jodel of the Swiss 
mountaineer. 

All this busy exhibition of life on a small 
scale, seems so very strange up here on the 
open mountain-top, under the near, blue sky 
amid the grandeur of the Alps, and brings us 
down at once from the boundless realms of imag- 
ination and of infinite space, to human associa- 
tions and human interests. And so, inspecting 
the curious wares and motley groups, we while 
away a little time before withdrawing into the 
huge caravansary for food and repose. 

One does not find such unvarying exorbitant 
charges throughout the country at places of re- 
sort in Europe, as we have at home. 

True, one can spend any amount of money if 
one feels no special limitation, but there is at 
the same time, at all these resorts a scale of 
prices suited to travelers of moderate means, pro- 
viding sufficient and satisfactory service and 
entertainment at comparatively small outlay. 
Our foreign brothers seem to recognize the fact 
that every one, even among travelers, is not a 
Croesus, and to look out for the accommodation 
of such, also. I must confess, however, if they 
know that one is an American, it is very hard 
for them to realize that one is not necessarily, a 
millionaire, so ingrained is it into the con- 
sciousness of other peoples, that "all Americans 
are rich." 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 277 

In descending the Rigi, we followed the Arth- 
Goldau route, which branches off from the Rigi- 
Kulm section at Eigi-Staffel, a short distance 
below. 

Another panorama of indescribable grandeur 
and not less impressive and imposing than that 
seen from the other side, is spread out before us 
as we gradually go down through magnificent 
Alpine pastures and shadowy fir groves, to our 
first halting-place below the junction. This is 
the Rigi-Klosterli, the most sheltered place on 
the mountain. Here are two grand hotels, sev- 
eral less pretentious inns and a picturesque old 
pilgrimage-chapel ; also a Capuchin hospice, a 
somewhat peculiar institution, being a sort of 
conventual hostelry devoted to the entertain- 
ment of travelers. We are told that this point 
is most popular with persons desiring to make a 
prolonged stay upon the mountain. 

Off again and down, down through scenery of 
wildly romantic character, from the midst of 
which we command an extensive view of the 
Schwytz and the Eastern Alps. 

Now we hug the rocky side of a deep ravine, 
the abysmal depths of which our vision cannot 
XJenetrate; now we cross marvelous bridges and 
horrifying trestles and plunge into long tunnels, 
still winding ever down and down and down. 

By degrees the landscape loses its expansive 
sweep; we begin to be. shut in again by the 
nearer hills, and the pleasant valley of the Arth 
becomes prominent as, studded with fertile 
farms, flourishing fruit-trees and rustic dwell- 
ings, it stretches beyond the important station 
of Goldau, where the mountain railway termi- 
nates on this side. 

One might remain weeks upon the Rigi with- 
out exhausting its countless resources and as- 
tonishing variety of land and water scapes. 



278 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The Rigi-Kulm, five thousand, nine hundred 
and five feet above the sea, is the highest point. 
The Rigi-Scheidegg — for all these various points 
are but different pinnacles of the one vast moun- 
tain, — is five thousand, four hundred and six 
feet in elevation. At this spot is a "view-tower," 
one hundred feet high, where one might pass 
hours observing the magnificent prospect and 
"paying one's tribute to the majesty of the 
universe." Here too is an "Alpine-Garden," or 
experiment station, where trials are made in 
the cultivation of Alpine fodder-plants and 
forest trees. 

The Rigi-Hochfluh is five thousand, five hun- 
dred and eighty-four feet high. This is the 
most southern summit of the mountain and is 
perhaps the most fantastic in character. This 
ascent, M-hich can only be made on foot, leads 
past grotesque formations and through a fir 
forest, up a steep and stony defile, where only 
by an iron ladder fixed into the solid rock, can 
one mount to the bold and barren summit. 

One feature through all this region, especially 
striking to an American coming from a land 
whose mountains are sparsely settled, if at all, 
and where an air of bleak desolation pervades 
the upper heights, is the number and contiguity 
of villages, hamlets, chalets, villas and farm- 
houses everywhere visible in all directions, high 
and low, over the mountains ; so that the sweet, 
familiar sounds of rural domestic life, the 
laugh of children, the low of cattle, the bleat of 
lambs, the shrill clarion of chanticleers, fall con- 
tinually upon the ear, and all the peaceful avo- 
cations of life are seen to go on amid a lofty en- 
vironment unsurpassed in beauty and sublimity. 

The Rigi itself, though so rich in its infinite 
variety of scene, is yet but one of the countless 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 279 

stately and mighty monarchs that lift their proud 
and beautiful heads above the shining waters 
at their feet. Gazing at them as a whole, they 
form a circling chain of such matchless loveliness 
and majesty so far beyond the flights of the 
imagination, that the reverent spirit is inevit- 
ably lifted above the cloud-capped peaks, 
beyond the radiant atmosphere, "up through 
nature to nature's God. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

With comparatively but a glimpse and a taste 
of the delights of Switzerland, I tore myself 
away from the enrapturing locality of the Vier- 
loaldstcetter See, taking the St. Gothard line at 
Goldau. 

This is a very important railv^^ay junction and 
a bustling town, reminding me in a way of some 
of the new "cities" of our far west, where a 
large amount of business is transacted some- 
times, before the necessary buildings and facil- 
ities for properly carrying it on, are much more 
than in embryo. Carpenters, masons, diggers 
and hewers were at work all about, and we had 
to step over and around many obstructions and 
across many unprotected tracks, — a state of 
things very unusual abroad, — in passing from 
one railway station to another. 

Goldau is the place where, in 1806, a tremen- 
dous landslip fell from off the Rossberg, burying 
in its debris nearly iive hundred persons with all 
their belongings. 

As our train moves off, our way lies through 
a wild confusion of rocky fragments and over- 
turned strata, which have lain here ever since 
their descent into the valley, all undisturbed ex- 
cept so far as needful to construct the railways 
now lying through the area. 

Some one has said that the St. Gothard raiU 
way is the great international highway 
between north and south, a commercial route 
comparable to the Suez Canal or the Straits 
.of Gibralter. The impressionable traveler 

280 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 281 

will not be content with only this point of 
view, for it is also a highway of most remarka- 
ble and magnificent spectacles, both of natural 
scenery and of engineering achievements. 

My way lies but a short distance over this 
route, but even in this brief stretch, dark tun- 
nels and deep cuttings continually alternate with 
open reaches affording successive vistas of great 
heights beyond, of mighty chasms spanned by 
marvelous trestles and bridges, and of all pos^^i- 
ble variations in prospect, from simple beauty 
jup to awful grandeur. 

Between Goldau and Walchwyl we find yel- 
low circulars distributed profusely about our 
jSeats. Taking one up I translate as follows : 

WARNING ! WARNING ! WARNING ! 

"The Iron Columns of the in-construction-un- 
rdertaken St, Andrienbridge between Walchwyl 
and Goldau, come so near to the Wagons of the 
through-riding Trains to stand, that by only 
some Forth-out-bowing of the Over-body out of 
the Wagon Windows upon the Lakeside, Dam- 
.ages infallibly are. The Travelers become on 
that account, stringently therefore warned 
.against themselves from so questionable Places 
in anyhow-which-wise, lakewards to the Wagon 
Windows forth-out-to-lean. 

"The Direction of the Gothard-Road." 

Glancing farther down I find the warning re- 
peated in Italian, in French and finally in 
English, with a somewhat freer rendering than 
mine given above. I wonder if every train in 
every direction has every seat in every compart- 
ment of every carriage, filled with these slips 
.every day ; and if so, what the printer's bill of 
the "Direction" amounts to in the course of a 
;few- centuries. However, it is kind of the di- 



282 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

rectors to strive to prevent us from "forth-out- 
bowing,"and we all keep our "Over- bodies" 
very erect as we speed over the great bridge. 

As I am now bound for Zurich, I change lines 
at Zug, a romantic looking town beautifully sit- 
uated on its mountain-inclosed lake of the same 
name, and known from its quaint towers and 
ancient fortifications as the "Nuremburg of 
Switzerland." A long ridge of considerable el- 
evation called the Zugerberg, is a noticeable 
feature of the place, affording an exceedingly 
varied and pleasant opportunity for excursions 
either on foot or en voiture, as the French say. 
By the way, one never knows in this region, 
whether one will be accosted in French or in 
German, which rather serves to keep the not 
over-proficient linguist in a "tenter-hooky"con- 
dition as he strives to have immediately availa- 
ble an assortment of pertinent phrases in both 
languages. We have gone back to French 
money also, to my great confusion, as I have for 
so many weeks, in my struggle with marks and 
2ofennige, put behind me all thoughts of francs 
and centimes. The functionaries will take your 
German gold and give you change in French 
silver but, as a rule, the silver and copper of 
Germany are refused. Occasionally I find an 
amiable Dienstmann or porteur, — you never 
know which he is going to style himself, — who 
does not object to German change, so I go about 
with two purses, one French, the other German, 
and adapt the "nationality," so to speak, of my 
disbursements to the requirements of him who 
serves me. 

Our train is crowded, for now is the height 
of the season and this is a most popular route. 
The scenery is lovely and had we not just come 
from the very heart of enchantment ineffable, 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 283 

these cliffs and slopes were inexpressibly be- 
witching. We rush through some tremendous 
tunnels, one in particular, of more than eighteen 
thousand feet in length. As the carriages are 
unlighted and we have no warning to close our 
windows, we find ourselves every now and then 
suddenly in the midst of inky darkness and sul- 
phurous smoke that can find no outlet. Very 
soon "Zurich's fair waters" open out before us, 
the fine city lying upon the lake and the river 
Limmat, and bounded on the west by the river 
Sihl. 

To properly appreciate this place, one should 
see it before Lucerne, otherwise Zurich suffers 
in comparison. But it is a very beautiful and 
particularly interesting city, extremely ancient 
in origin. It is at this point that so many relics 
of the pre-historic "Lake-Dwellers" of Switzer- 
land, and have been found; the Helmhaus, an 
antiquarian museum, contains one of the finest 
collections extant, it is said, of the old pile 
structures excavated from the lake. But as 
there are traces of Roman occupation here, some 
authorities maintain that Zurich was founded 
by that people, it having been the Celts who 
lived on the pile-structures in the water. Be 
that as it may, it is now a flourishing, handsome, 
modern town, containing, with its nine suburban 
districts, about seventy-five thousand inhabi- 
tants living, as my hand-book informs me, "in 
fifty-two hundred and seventy-six houses and 
forming sixteen thousand, one hundred and 
ninety seven families." 

It is a leading city both commercially and 
politically and has numerous manufactures for 
soap, silk, cotton, paper, machinery and so forth. 
It is solidly built in a great variety of architec- 
ture. 



284 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Churches, cathedrals, museums, asylums, in- 
stitutes, theaters, hospitals, picture-galleries, 
schools, colleges, monuments, bridges and squares 
abound; and the beavity of its broad, smooth 
streets, its blooming gardens, leafy terraces, 
charming nooks and secluded courts, its foun- 
tains, ponds, river-shores and lake-fronts, its 
"up-to-date" and tastefully ornamental, as well 
as its antique and venerable structures, is very 
striking. 

One peculiarity in the very center of the town, 
is a quiet, elevated place called the Lindenhof, 
from which all the bustle and turmoil of a large 
city seems to rush away, instead of concentrat- 
ing. It is studded with lime trees and offers 
an extensive view, unobstructed and undis- 
turbed. This spot was the property of the Im- 
perial Governors of Zurich and was the original 
Roman stronghold, or "First Quarter," of the 
town. Many coins and inscriptions of very 
ancient times have been found here. 

Then there is the "old town," little changed 
for many generations, with queer, zig-zagged 
ways and antique edifices. One, in the narrow, 
crooked street, Auf Dorf, is pointed out as the 
former residence of a famous civic official, Hans 
Waldmann, who "had to die on the scaffold on 
account of his 'overbearance' and insolence 
toward his fellow-citizens whose idol he had been 
and who had promoted him to the high post of 
burgomeister." Another of the numberless 
instances of the Swiss hatred for and defiance of 
oppression in any form. 

Delightful excursions are to be taken in every 
direction, surpassed only by those nearer 
Lucerne. A miniature railway having a rolling- 
stock of four engines and ten cars, leads up the 
Uetliberg, a hill to the north of the city. This 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 285 

line is nearly thirtjthousand feet in length, 
with a gradient of seven per cent, so there is 
nothing very marvelous about this excursion in 
this land of tremendous heights, but the viev^^ 
of the vari d landscape beneath, with the dis- 
tant Alps rising in mysterious beauty far beyond, 
is very charming. 

Prices in Zurich seem quite cheap, especially 
when one recalls what it costs to spend a few 
days at any of our popular resorts in the United 
States. One can hire a carriage for fifty cents 
an hour, or six hours for two dollars and a half; 
or to be driven from one point to another not ex- 
ceeding a quarter of an hour in time, for sixteen 
cents. Tramway rates in the city, two cents; 
from or into the suburbs, four cents. Row- 
boats for one or two persons, ten cents 
an hour, sail-boat, twenty cents. At the thea- 
ter a single seat in a large front box, eighty cents, 
which is the highest price anywhere in the house. 
A messenger with or without a load of less than 
thirty-three pounds in the city, four cents; with 
that weight or more, with or without a cart, 
eight cents. A man and cart moving furniture 
or cleaning house or carpets, twelve cents an 
hour, or one dollar a day, and so on. 

In going about Zurich, one notes at occasional 
intervals, very odd specimens of rock, or "boul- 
ders," set up, as inquiry develops, as ornamental 
curiosities. Some are dark blue, others red, 
still others variegated, and all of most erratic 
conformation. They do not appertain, we are 
told, to the spots wherein they rest, but have 
been discovered at points in the vicinity of Zur- 
ich and have been brought at great expenditure 
of force and money, into the city and deposited — 
to quote a popular phrase, — "where they will do 
the most good." 



286 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The Grand Central Railway Station of Zurich 
is magnificent and the remarkably spacious 
square in which it stands is a marvel of urban 
beauty and artistic adornment. 

With a "longing, lingering look behind," at 
the thriving city with its flowing river and gray- 
green lake at its feet, and its verdure-clad back- 
ground reaching into snowy heights above, I 
watched it all fade in the distance and merge 
little by little into the less striking region 
about Basle, toward which converging 
point of multitudinous lines, I again sped. 
Here changing trains and resuming German 
money and German language, I journeyed on 
via Offenburg and Appemweier to Heidelberg, 
and thence by way of Mainz and Kastel to 
Wiesbaden, 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Mainz is a fine city of ancient origin and mod- 
ern improvements, and very fair was it to loolc 
upon as it lay spread out before me in the warm 
sunshine. I paused not, however, to enjoy its 
beauties nor its glories, making only a short 
halt between trains. 

The Rhine here is broad and splendid. It is 
from this point that the "Rhine-journey" is us- 
ually begun, passengers for train or boat to the 
north, being taken by carriage through the 
town and across its beautiful bridge to Kastel 
opposite. 

Thus far my way lay, so I entered the waiting 
vehicle with five other travelers. Three of these 
were a family party, father, mother and son, 
English, who were in great perplexity concern- 
ing their luggage, about which they conversed 
"volubly in the language of their countrv. 

It was impossible for me to remain ignorant 
•of their grievances unless I had been suddenly 
stricken deaf, but of course, it was all none of 
my afi^air. Finally the conductor appeared de- 
manding tickets, and there was another over- 
flowing torrent of speech turned in his direction, 
as all tried to explain at once, but the conduc- 
tor 

" shook his flaxen head 

and smilingly answered: " 

^'Nix-fer-stay." Then they said it all over 
again, with that calm and indomitable assurance 
"which all English seem to have, that if they only 
■speak distinctly and forcibly enough in their 

287 



288 ONE WO .MAN WANDERING 

native tongue, every foreigner will surely un- 
derstand. 

But it was of no avail; the conductor "had no 
English," and the party "had no German." At 
last as the English began for the fourth time to 
rehearse their "tale of woe," I ventured, seeing 
no one else was likely to come to their relief, tO' 
say a few words in German to the conductor. 
At this the English party turned to me and 
poured forth the story once more, as if I had not 
been able to hear the relation the other four 
times ; but I listened gravely and did what I 
could to elucidate matters, enough so that final- 
ly the conductor ejaculated, '■'■Ja^ja, ganzrecht,^'^ 
slammed the door and we rolled away. 

Then the English party added for me a few 
personal details, saying that they had traveled 
in India, in Egypt and nearly all over the globe, 
this being their third trip through Germany. 
"And you do not speak German?" I inquired, 
rather superfluously, it must be admitted. "Oh, 
no?" they returned complacently, "We do not 
speak any language but our own; we can always 
make ourselves understood in English." I was 
sorely beset with a desire to laugh, but managed, 
I trust, to keep my countenance as impassive as 
the faces of the fifth and sixth occupants of the 
conveyance, wh:) had not moved a muscle dur- 
ing all this confabulation. 

Reaching Kastel, I took train for Wiesba- 
den, which lies inland, principally in a broad and 
smiling plain bounded far away on the one hand 
by the river Rhine, and encircled otherwise by 
the southern declivities of the Taunus Mount- 
ains. Off in the distance, the peaks of the 
Odenwald and the Donnersberg are silhouetted 
against the horizon. The woodland slopes that 
rise gently away from the main town, are 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 289 

threaded by picturesque and leafy avenues 
whose umbrageous nooks are studded with 
stately mansion and ornate cottage. 

Records show that Wiesbaden was first known 
as Mattiacum, and the graver citizens of this 
now fashionable watering place, are fond of 
mentioning that Pliny himself' stated, '■'■Sunt et 
Mattiaci foiites caiicU.'''' These "hot springs" 
of volcanic origin, are certainly in evidence to- 
day and to them the city owes its distinctive 
prosperity. About some of the principal ones, 
the ground is warm at all times and even in 
winter no snow can remain there. Most of the 
great hotels have their own boiling mineral 
springs, and the facilities for laving in and im- 
bibing the curative waters are innumerable. 

It is a pretty town ; its gay and cheerful ap- 
pearance somewhat suggestive of Lucerne, but 
without the superb setting of that gem of 
pleasure-places. As in Lucerne, the attractions 
of the old and the new are inseparably blended. 
Traces of old Roman occupation, such as the 
ancient ''Wall of the Heathen," numerous votive 
stones, massive antique baths excavated from 
far below the present surface, tiles with the 
stamp of the Legion, coins and various other re- 
lics, are to be noted within stone's throw of, if 
not actually contiguous to pleasant modern parks 
and promenades, gay gardens, fine churches, 
theaters, ornamental villas and the like ; and in 
addition, all the concomitants, architectural or 
otherwise, incidental to a popular ''cure;" such 
as palatial bath-houses, splendid drinking-halls, 
or "pump-rooms" and so forth, with every fin 
de Steele convenience and improvement. 

The one defect in natural beauty, is the lack, 
within the immediate area of the city, of lake or 
river ; hence artificial ponds and fountains are 



290 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

much more numerous here than in Lucerne, as 
there Nature herself has wrought on so mighty 
a scale, that man's efforts seem puny and in- 
effective; but here he has had wider scope and 
the beautiful adornments of square and Platz 
and of the spacious grounds of the various 
Kurhauseri throughout the place, are indeed 
diverse and enchanting. 

Everywhere also as in Lucerne, one meets a 
brilliant, light-hearted throng, but here there is 
a very large supplement of the aged and infirm, 
"the lame, the halt," and I do not know but 
"the blind," also, who flock here with canes and 
crutches and in rolling-chairs, to obtain the 
benefit of these healing waters. 

The city in some respects also reminds me of 
some of our thriving American towns, as im- 
provements seem to be continually under way; 
new tramways are in progress, though there are 
many previous lines ; old buildings are in de- 
molition and new ones in building, so that there 
is an air of pleasing activity to be noted 
throughout the streets, though there is none of 
the rush and clangor of a large commercial 
center. 

Wiesbaden is now a city of sixty thousand or 
more inhabitants. Much of its development is 
said to be due to the late Emperor William I., 
who made this his favorite bathing-place for 
many years and never failed to show special 
favor to the town. 

Of the many splendid and picturescfue edifices 
of Wiesbaden, I will say little. One of the most 
conspicuous is the great synagogue standing 
upon steep Michaelsberg. It is of noble, orien- 
tal style, wrought out in light-gray sandstone 
decorated with arabesques. With its Moorish 
spires, its domes and huge cupola, it is a grand 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 291 

and impressive structure. In the Markt Platz 
stands the new Town-Hall, a peculiarly shaped, 
seven-sided building, of variegated sandstone, 
seeming to be in composition, a blending of Re- 
naissance and Gothic features. Many balcon- 
ies and galleries give variety to the fagades. A 
standard-bearer of chased copper decorates the 
main front. In the upper field of the middle gable 
is the civic coat-of-arms borne by allegorical fig- 
ures. In the window medallions are busts of 
the emperors William I. and Frederick III. 
Adorning the central balcony are colossal statues 
of Justice, Power, Diligence and Benevolence. 
Various other details abound, of fitting and in- 
teresting decoration. The whole effect is pic- 
turesque without lacking in dignity. 

Passing along Wilhelm and Taunus streets, 
we come to the entrance of the Nerothal where 
we find a fine bronze monument in honor of 
Wiesbaden's sons who fell in the campaigns of 
1870-71, against the French. 

All about here are verdant vineyards and, be- 
yond and above, the well-wooded heights of the 
Neroberg, accessible by cog-wheel railway. 
Reaching the top one finds a wide, eleva- 
ted, undulating plain pleasingly diversified 
by grove and garden, and quaint as well as 
elegant detached stiuctures. A few steps 
brings one to the Nero Temple, a small pavilion 
of white marble with rounded dome supported 
by slender columns upon a circular platform. 
From here one has a lovely view; but, going on, 
one comes to one of the finest hotels in the 
vicinity, eight hundred feet above the plain, 
with an observatory of odd construction seventy 
feet higher, from which is seen a vast, unob- 
structed prospect over a marvelous expanse of 
landscape. One's gaze roves abroad over a 



292 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

wide emerald plain, through the far distance of 
which the silvery waters of the Rhine, spanned 
by the graceful bridge at Mainz, gleam in their 
winding course. Wiesbaden is at one's feet, 
and the whole immense sea of Taunus' green 
foliage stretches north and northeast, wafting 
afar its balmy odors. Outlined against the sky 
are the proud summits of the Wurzel, Platte, 
Feldberg, Alt-koenig, besides Melibokus and 
Donnerberg: between them lie verdant and 
shadowy valleys inhabited by all manner of 
game. To quote an enthusiastic visitor, "For- 
est and fountain seem to do their utmost to give 
back health to suffering mankind." 

Still strolling onward, one reaches the spot 
where, 'midst forest green and sylvan shade, lies 
Wiesbaden's "city of the dead." 

Gazing upon its peaceful loveliness, one re- 
calls the words of an ancient minnesinger who 
so long ago felt that 

"Here beneath these leafy shadows, 
With the soft breeze roving- past, 

And the songsters' mellow warbling, 
It were sweet to lie at last." 

Here, as elsewhere over all the "wide, wide 
world," has grieving affection striven to render 
immortal the memory of its vanished ones ; but 
among the many artistic tributes are two of 
such rare beauty, that possibly a brief descrip- 
tion may be of intere§t. 

The one, representing a small chapel, is hewn 
from pure white marble. The sad figure of 
mourning Love stands at the threshold, and to 
her the door is opened by a little Angel of 
Peace. To the left of the door stands a youth 
with a wreath of poppy leaves and an inverted 
torch. There is a simple and classic beauty 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 293 

about the Avhole c(>nception, that is very affect- 
ing. 

The other, just beyond, known as the "Gre- 
cian Chapel," is entirely diverse in type. It is 
in the form of a Greek cross and is richly 
adorned without and within, while above its 
green embowerment, rise five golden cupolas 
into the clear light of heaven. This sepultary 
edifice was reared to the memory of the wife 
of the Duke of Nassau, the lovely princess Eliz- 
abeth Miehaelowna, who died in the flower of her 
youth. A flight of broad, marble steps leads to 
the interior, where the light filters in. through 
splendidly ornate, stained windows and falls in 
countless, prismatic hues over the polished 
marble walls, whereon are hung many a rare 
painting of themes sacred and sublime. In the 
center of the beautiful rotunda, under the gentle 
light of the cupola, lies the lovely sculptured 
figure of the fair princess. Eich curtains 
draped far above fall in folds of artistic grace, 
shielding but not hiding the pure young beauty 
here so delicately, so touchingly represented. 
Faith, Hope, Charity and Immortality stand at 
the four corners of the sarcophagus, keepi sg 
silent guard forever. 

In this chapel, the Russian community of 
Wiesbaden holds its religious services. 

With so much beauty of art and nature on all 
sides, one would fain linger discovering new de- 
lights at every step, but the shades of night are 
gathering and, though there is no darkness in 
this electricity-illumined spot, yet tired feet and 
eyes petition for respite even from the pursuit 
of beauty, and I return to my hotel, which, by 
the way, is somewhat different in arrangement 
from any that I have seen before. 
■ ' There is a large, imposing entrance-portal, or 



294 ONE WOMAN WANDEKING 

vestibule, that opens directly from the street on 
the same level, and. extends Inward about fifty 
feet ; up two or three steps at one side, open the 
great dining and breakfast-rooms; from the 
other, a large, square hall, from which access is 
had to the elevator, the porter's lodge and the 
like. The rear wall of the vestibule is of glass, 
with a wide opening in the middle, admitting to 
a central court gay with flowers and trees. 
Here moals are served al fresco. But the pecu- 
liarity is that around this court, which is in- 
closed by the innt^r walls of the hotel, are a num- 
ber of doors with steps and sometimes little 
porches before them, and these lead into com- 
plete apartments or suites, so that the occupants 
have a private entrance of their own, opening- 
only into their own quarters and through which 
no guests of the hotel pass, except themselves. 
These families may take their meals in the din- 
ing-room, or in the court under their windows, 
or have them sent in, or go outside for them, as 
they prefer. It struck me as a happy mingling 
of the advantages of public and domestic living. 

I did a little shopping in Wiesbaden, and 
found to my surprise, when the saleswoman pufc 
the wares before me, that I had asked for em- 
broidery-needles instead of pins. In the laugh 
that we had together over my blunder, I discov- 
ered that she spoke English, so I made no more 
errors. 

Speaking of shopping, reminds me that while 
I was in Hanover, a German lady told me that 
it was not "good form" to leave any store which 
one had entered, without purchasing something. 
Visitors are not expected to inspect goods unless 
desiring to buy, and, if the stock fails to 
contain the article desired, one must pur- 
chase something to recompense the dealer for 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 295 

showing his wares. "Opening Days" are un- 
known and "one's room is better than one's 
company" unless one buys goods whether 
wanted or not. Naturally, the raids of the 
genus "shopper" are sternly discountenanced. 
It was quite different in Paris, where the sales- 
people give a visitor every facility to look about. 

On the whole goods are not expensive and are 
made for service. Gloves, millinery and silks, 
though dearer than in France, are much less so 
than in America. Rates for tailoring and needle 
work in general, are lower than in France ; 
though to my surprise, I found them moderate 
there, outside the large, fashionable emporiums 
so well known on both sides of the water. 

Here, as in most foreign countries, American 
shoes are found at the head, — not meaning that 
they take the place of hats, — the German shoe es- 
pecially being "fearfully and wonderfully made." 
I am reminded of a little incident that occurred 
as I was walking to church one morning. I was 
not quite sure as to the way and, as I crossed a 
street, I met a pleasant-looking lady of whom I 
inquired. 

She replied in English, adding: 

"You are American, are you not?" 

"Oh!" I replied, somewhat chagrined, "is it 
possible my German is so faulty that you can 
even tell whether I am American or English?" 

"Not that at all;" she answered, "it is yovxr 
feet. I noticed as you held you skirts out of the 
dust, that you were wearing American shoes, and 
as you are a stranger and a foreigner, I decided 
that you were from America." 

I felt quite relieved and went on my way re- 
joicing, though I marveled at the keenness of her 
observation. 

I think I have remarked before that I like 



298 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

Germans the best of any foreigners that I have 
encountered. As a rule, they are very friendly 
and "level-headed," and occasionally they show 
such delicious and unexpected simplicity. As 
for instance; one day at dinner in my jje».9/ora, the 
conversation turned upon the subject of divorce 
and the greater facility, — which unfortunately 
is too true, — with which it may be obtained in 
America, and especially in Chicago, than in 
Europe. The report as to how far South Dakota 
had out-stripped the older community, in this 
special line, had evidently not jet penetrated 
into dreamy old Germany. At any rate, our 
hostess, a traveled and cultured lady, remarked 
in perfect good faith : 

"Why, is it not dreadful? I was reading to- 
day in a paper, how it is over there in Chicago. 
There is a place right in the post office, where 
you can go and get divorce-papers while you are 
waiting for your mail." 

Her shocked expression, with her implicit reli- 
ance on a newspaper squib, were too much for 
one having a keen sense of the ludicrous, and in 
spite of my efforts, I "ha-ha-ed" right out, 
almost before the words had left her lips. It 
was some time before she could comprehend why 
I laughed, and I fancy she even yet believes it was 
principally due to the reprehensible folly of 
"those dreadful Americans," for the other 
Americans at the table laughed too, though it 
was I who disgracefully led the van. 

It was while at this 7:>e«sio/i that I learned that 
visitors are not desired in German schools, and 
only admitted after much use of "red tape." 
Expressing a desire to see something of the 
practical educational system of Germany, I was 
informed that it would be necessary to make 
application to the authorities for a permit, which 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 297 

might not be granted for several months, if at all. 
A case was instanced of a gentleman from Kan- 
sas, who, being a professional pad igogue of 
repute in his own country, applied on his arrival 
in Hanover, for such a permit; he made a long 
stay there, followed some branch of study, made 
himself familiar with tl)e city and busied himself 
:in various ways, but finally was ob iged to re- 
turn to America to take up his professional 
•duties; and not until he had been gone three 
months, did his governmental permission to visit 
the schools of Hanover, arrive at his foreign 
address. Old-world citizens are continually 
complaining because the Americans are "always 
in such a hurry." Not wishing to remain indefi- 
nitely in any place, I decided to make no appli- 
.cation of any kind to the authorities. 



CHAPTEE XXXIV. 

By way of variety, instead of going back to 
Kastel for the "Rhine- Journey," which is the 
usual route, I took a steam tram at Wiesbaden 
and went over to Biebrich-Bahnhof , a short dis- 
tance below Kastel on the river. For several 
weeks now I have seen nothing of my luggage 
excepting two small "grips," as my JRund-Reise 
ticket, taken at Hanover, allows nothing free 
but what can be taken into one's compartment; 
so I expressed my heavy pieces to London to be 
stored there until my arrival. I might better 
have left a large part of it in America. 

It is really amusing to see what an amount of 
"traps" under the guise of hand-luggage is 
brought into the compartment by the average 
traveler, to avoid paying excess charges ; as it 
all is transported in any case, I do not see why 
it could not as well be stowed in the luggage-van, 
out of the passenger's way; it would weigh no 
more there than in the compartment, certainly. 
Probably, however, the baggage coaches are so 
small that such a course would necessitate put- 
ting on an extra one, and that would entail 
much additional weight. And here let me 
once more sound a warning to the "lone one." 
True, I had been warned myself before sailing, 
and thought had I reduced my "things" to the 
smallest livable compass, but here I have been 
existing for weeks, in two "grips," and shall 
have to continue so to do, for some time more. 
But there was one point that I did not realize 
and which I emphasize for the benefit of my sol- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 299 

itary sister; namely, the slight degree of varia- 
tion in temperature over here, from day to day. 
One does not appear in flannels and furs in the 
morning and in frillls and fans before night, or 
vice versa, as so often with us; and I have 
never yet, even in the crowded cities, exper- 
ienced any of what the average American would 
call "truly torrid" weather, though the native 
on this side may be complaining of the "beastly 
heat. " This state of things naturally renders the 
wardrobe question less complicated, fewer changes 
being required. Since winter has really taken 
its leave, the atmosphere has been mostly genial 
and delightful. To be sure, I can only speak 
regarding the parts I have visited. 

It was charming indeed to-day as we ran 
along in the open country and through two or 
three trim and quaint little hamlets, before 
reaching our destination at the boat-landing of 
Biebrich, a small village that has sprung up 
around Schloss Biehrich, the property of the 
Duke of Nassau. If one prefers, one may leave 
the train at Mosbach and walk thence to this 
same point, through the lovely grounds of this 
castle, and past its interesting antiquity; 
though, being a little less than two hundred 
years old, it is considered rather modern in these 
regions. 

A goodly multitude of expectant humanity of 
assorted nationalities, awaited the coming of 
our steamer from Mainz-Kastel, which cities we 
could see distinctly on opposite banks of the 
Rhine, as we looked up the stream. Finally the 
"German Emperor" came puffing sedately down 
the river with much dignity, though, being but 
a boat, he — or "she" — did not ignore the mani- 
fest desire of the populace, but swerved grace- 
fully toward us with several discordant shrieks 



300 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

little creditable to her — or "his" — majesty. 
Quite a number of persons had already taken 
passage from the ''twin cities" above, and we 
hastened to swell the throng. 

Tlie Rhine steamers are of good size, net so 
large as the Hudson River floating palaces, but 
pleasant and well-equipped. It seemed queer to 
have first and second class even here. I believe 
the second classers must not go to the salon-deck, 
but their quarters, from what I could see as I 
passed up the companion-wiiy, seemed clean and 
attractive. 

And now I am really abroad upon the famous 
river around whose very name there lingers so 
much of romance and poetry. It is a gay scene ; 
tug-boats, passenger-boats, freight-boats, pleas- 
ure-boats, of nearly every size and type, are 
passing to and fro and all is life and animation. 
The sun shines brilliantly, the fields are smiling, 
pennons gracefully flutter, the wavelets foam 
and sparkle about our steamer, reflecting all the 
colors of the rainbow, and happy hearts make 
holiday with laughter and song. 

Countless little tables are set about and lively 
groups gather around wath various kucken 
and other edibles, washed down by the light 
beers and wines of the countiy. The American 
tourist, distinctive by his unconquerable pen- 
chant for ''ice- water" though he may also swal- 
low much stronger beverages, is on hand and 
appears to oscillate betw een two extremes, the 
wildly rapturous and the loftily disparaging. 
I, wishing to avoid either, do not parade my 
nationality but sit quietly in as German a seem- 
ing as I can command. 

But I soon lose all thoughts of self as the 
lovely pictures on either side gradually unroll 
before me. A little hand-book I have picked 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 301 

up, declares that "the Rhine is the most inter- 
esting river in the world," and I do not know- 
but the author has struck the key-note of its 
peculiar charm. There are longer rivers; there 
are grander rivers ; there are rivers whose shores 
spread out in sublimer landscapes; but what 
other river has the legends, the traditions, the 
myths and mysteries, as well as the splendidly 
authentic record of bravery and chivalry through 
hundreds of years, handed down from genera- 
tion to generation, that cluster along this mean- 
dering stream which first transmitted to Ger- 
many the culture of the Romans? 

Story and verse, epic and lyric, from time 
unreckoned have rendered immortal its fascina- 
tions and its renown; while frowning castle and 
crumbling ruin give visible attestation to its 
present and its former importance. There is a 
charm about it all, that is well nigh untellable ; 
and one begins to comprehend the emotions of 
that aged German sire who so long ago in appo- 
site verse, adjured his son to "go not to the 
Rhine," lest he "never come back anymore." 

For the water smiles up at the mountains so blue, 
And the mountains smile back to the stream, 

And the lassies and lads are so friendly and true. 
That thy soul shall in Paradise seem. 

Entranced by the smiles and bewitched by the wine, 
Ecstatic its vineyards thou'lt roam, 

And singing forever, "The Rhine, O, the Rhine!" 
Thou'lt never come back to thy home. 

We are fairly under way and, leaving Castle 
Biebrich embowered in its leafy nook behind us, 
our boat winds along amidst the islands that so 
numerously intersperse this stretch of the river, 
and nears Niederwalluf, at which point the 
famous "Rhine-Wine-District" begins. The 



302 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

slopes are dotted with elegant villas and pic- 
turesque cottages, with castle or ruin on every 
height; while in all the green intervales and 
reaching back upon the fertile declivities, twine 
the verdant tendrils and droop the purple clus- 
ters devoted to the worship of Bacchus. 

On the right appears Elfeld, which, in con- 
trast to all the misty romance of this interesting 
locality, claims to have possessed as long ago as 
14^)5, that very practical and matter-of-fact ma- 
chine, a printing-press. A handsome Gothic 
watch-tower reared in 1330, looks down calmly 
upon us as we pass beneath its portals and move 
on, approaching first one side and then the 
other of the sinuous stream whose delightful 
shores lie so near at either hand and stretch 
back into vistas of enchantment. 

The vineyards of the "Ehinegau" are getting 
more numerous. Yonder lies Hattenheim with 
its giant pipe; beyond, the vines of Steinberg 
and Marcobrunn ; near at hand, the gray walls 
of the monastery Eberbach ; and everywhere 
creeping close to the borders of the river, are 
the cheerful little villages that give pleasing 
vivacity to the beauteous scene. 

And now rises a fair incline that undulates in 
gently sloping terraces to a considerable height, 
on the top of which appears an extensive but 
simply designed edifice. This is the world-re- 
nowned fSchloss Johannisberg where is produced 
the precious wine of that name. This, with ad- 
jacent grounds, is the property of Prince Met- 
ternich, and comprises a vineyard of many 
acres. Some one has enthusiastically called it 
the "Pearl of the Ehinegau ;" in consideration 
of the wine it produces, I should think "ruby" 
the better term, but there ! — w^iat do I know 
about it? "Johannisberger" may be pearl-col- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 303 

ored for aught I can testify, for I have not yet, 
in spite of my now lengthy sojourn in the land 
of the grape and vine, learned to imbibe their 
liquid products with any more gusto than when 
I left my native land. 

Still on we glide. On either side of the river, 
running mostly parallel to its shores, stretches a 
railroad track ; occasionally we note a train 
rushing along, sometimes on the one hand, some- 
times on the other, frequently on both at once, 
all far out-stripping our own rate of speed; but 
as we watch them plunge into the black tunnels 
under every hill, we are glad that we may float 
down the stream in the free air and sunshine. 

More and more fascinating grows the scene. 
Now rise into view the towers and gables of fair 
Rudesheim, nestled with its numerous hotels and 
pleasant wine-gardens at the foot of the great 
Niederwald, a dark forest above whose oaken 
branches and shadowy crown of foliage looms 
far up on the summit of the mountain, the pride 
of the nation, that great master-piece of com- 
memorative art, '■'■Die Wacht am Rhem.'''' 

It is a grand and beautifully impressive object 
visible for miles around from vale and river. 
One may leave the boat here and take a cog- 
wheel railway up through vineyards and groves 
to the top of the mountain, and thus inspect 
closely this noble creation. 

The figure of Germania, a woman richly garbed, 
with flowing robes and corsage of mail, stands 
boldly forth before the imperial throne. Her 
left hand grasps a mighty sword wreathed in 
laurel, her right holds proudly aloft the 
august, jeweled crown of Germany. 

The figure is thirty-six feet high and is the 
design of- Professor J. Schilling of Dresden. 
The bronze casting was done in Munich and con- 



304 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

sists partly of metal of conquered cannon, a fact 
adding to the significance of the memorial. The 
masonry beneath the monument is mighty and 
solid, being circular in form. From the grand 
boulevard below, a wide flight of many steps, 
broad and imposing, rises to the base of this 
foundation and terminates at a spacious plat- 
form. Leading from one side of this, a narrower 
flight passes around the great bulk of the struc- 
ture and up to another extensive platform in 
the rear, which is on a level with the substruc- 
ture. All exposed verges are carefully railed 
in. Upon the substructure stands the pedestal 
of the monument. At the front, on a small ped- 
estal of its own, is a noble group representing 
the rivers Rhine and Moselle. On the right upon 
the main pedestal and above the river-group, 
stands the haughty figure of War, stern and de- 
fiant; on the corresponding left, the graceful 
form of Peace, prosperous and serene. 

Between these two, in the main facade, is a 
magnificent high-relief of '■'■Die Wacht am 
Bheiri,''' with portrait figures of the late Emperor 
William I. and many of the princes and officers 
instrumental in the reconstruction of the German 
Empire; the lofty and commanding form of 
Bismarck standing out almost as haughty and 
defiant as the figure of War itself,- while below 
is graven in letters of unusual size, the full text 
of the stirring poem from which the memorial 
takes its name. 

On the right and left faces respectively, are 
fine reliefs, "The Departure" and "The Home- 
coming." The foundation-stone was laid by the 
old Emperor William, and the monument was 
unvailed in his presence and that of an enthus- 
iastic multitude in 1883. Since then it has been 
a place of pilgrimage for the whole German- 
nation. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 305 

And who can wonder? Even the bosom of an 
alien pulses more quickly, gazing at the majes- 
tic object rising above the lovely scene 
spread out far below; and when to all this 
beauty of art and nature, is added the conscious- 
ness that here, from away back into dim ages, 
one's forefathers struggled even unto the death, 
to defend and prosper the "Fatherland," how 
one's heart must swell. From so long a time it 
is that German right and German might 
have stood here supreme in spite of foreign foes. 
The old bridge at Drusus speaks of Roman in- 
vasion ; still are standing at Ingelheim the pillars 
of Charlemagne's imperial palace; and have not 
these blue mountains looked down through all 
the centuries upon the tremendous warfare of 
German knights, who "put not lance in rest" 
until the enemy was driven from the borders 
and no marauder dared again to venture upon 
the sacred soil? 

And now beneath these same blue mountains, 
upon this arena of a heroic past, moves the busy 
and joyous pageant of modern life with its in- 
cessant activity, its gayety, its elegance. Barge 
and row-boat, yacht and steamer, glide along 
the stream ; trains dash back and forth and in 
and out of those stupendous tunnels; thousands 
of persons on business and pleasure bent, pass 
to and fro ; luxury, invention and speculation 
have wrought miracles innumerable; and to-day, 
above all, immutable in beauty and majesty, 
stands this glorious monument, typifying sub- 
limely forever the thought of a united "Father- 
land." And ever joining the past to the present, 
the silver Rhine flows on. 

We rouse from our musings and return to 
Rudesheim where we re-embark upon the rolling 
stream. 



806 ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 

A little above Rudesheim, on the opposite 
bank, is Rochusberg with its interesting chapel 
on the mountain, where is annually celebrated in 
August the festival of St. Roch. Goethe, w^ho has 
given us a vivid description of this festivity, pre- 
sented the little chapel, during his sojourn in the 
vicinity, an altar-piece which is carefully pre- 
served and cherished. 

A little further down the stream is the old 
ruin Kloppburg, thought to be of Roman origin, 
and noted as one of the many places where the 
unfortunate Henry IV. was detained by his un- 
fllial sons in 1105. 

The country flattens out somewhat here and, 
looking to the left, we note the spires and tur- 
rets of a considerable city becoming visible just 
where an arm of the river branches off to the 
westward. What a thrill runs over one on 
learning that this is "Bingen, fair Bingen on 
the Rhine." How the tide of recollection rolls 
backward and we see ourselves in the old-time 
achool-room where, once a week, are held the 
"literary exercises" of the various classes; see the 
agitated maiden, whose trembling hand can 
scarcely hold the "Fifth Reader" from which 
she voices in nearly inaudible accents her favor- 
ite selection, as ubiquitous in that day as the 
•'Curfew shall not ring to-night," of a later era. 

Who does not recall the opening lines? 

"A soldier of the legion lay dying at Algiers, 
There was lack of woman's nursing, there was 
dearth of woman's tears." 

Or perchance it is a sturdy youth, whose 
graces of elocution are entirely dormant, if at 
all existent, who, in shaky, uncertain basso, pro- 
ceeds to declaim with few pauses and no inflec- 
tions, the same perennial poem ; but whichever, 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 307 

or whoever it is, each invariably declares in 
lugubrious tones, 

"For I was born in 'Bin-jun', fair 'Bin-jun' on -the 
Rhine." 

Fair indeed it is to-day ; and beautiful beyond 
telling, the green shores and hurrying waters 
that here race so merrily onward wiih ripple 
and swirl of contrary currents, carrying us on 
swiftly until we pass below the ancient city, and 
come abreast of a tiny island, principally a rock 
of quartz, separated by a deep channel from the 
main shore. 

And now what do we see, tall, attenuated, an- 
tiquated, with slim, battlemented turrets and 
narrow slits, rising grim and ghost- like from the 
very bosom of the waters? Jjo you 

" think of the Bishop of Bingen 

And his mouse-tower on the Rhine?" 

For that is what it is. And now I am con- 
sumed with curiosity to know why "mouse" 
tower. My ignorance is dispelled by a reference 
to the wise little book in my hand, whose terse 
elucidation I will give for the benefit of some 
"lone sister" who, like myself, may never before 
have learned what it all means. Thus the 
book : 

"The Mouse-Tower, properly Mus -Tower, 
muserie-gunnery ; cf. musket; a tower built for 
levying loll by Archbishop Hatto, as is told by 
a popular legend." Short and to the point. 
We shall not forget it. 

Prior to the year 1832, this portion of the 
river was considered very perilous, as great vol- 
umes of water were forced through an exceed- 
ingly narrow channel ; but at that date the op- 
erations and improvements upon the stream were 



308 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

completed and the roaring river was subdued 
below the danger-point. 

Just below the tower, on the right, lie the 
ruins Ehrenfels, built in the thirteenth century, 
also for the levying of toll on passing boats, in 
that period when so emphatically might meant 
right. 

Mountain and vineyard, grove and hamlet, 
appear and fall behind. Again on the left rises 
a steep rock nearly three hundred feet high, on 
the summit of which sits the mediaeval castle 
fiheinstein, known to have been in existence in 
the thirteenth century. It was restored in 1829 
and is the property of Prince George of Prussia. 
Now is seen a continuous succession of high, 
bold precipices rent by great ravines and yawn- 
ing chasms. Here stands the Falkenberg with 
thrilling history ; centuries ago a Roman castle, 
later a robber's stronghold and once destroyed 
by Rudolph of Hapsburg. 

Yonder upon that huge rock wall, eight hun- 
dred feet above the river, looms the magnifi- 
cently restored Castle Sooneck, the property of 
the Emperor and his brothers, its modern im- 
pregnability contrasting strangely wath the 
ancient ruins so close at hand. 

Bolder and loftier grow the shores. The vine- 
yards are now behind us. Castle after castle 
bristling with defences, towers upward on the 
crags, or ruined and dismantled displays its 
crumbling buttresses and fallen arches decked 
with moss and climbing plants. 

Scant space here have the little villages to 
crowd in between the river's margin and the 
rugged cliffs behind. On the left again is the 
recently rebuilt Castle Heimburg,or Hoheneck, 
rising from the fragments of a Roman castle 
wholly destroyed in 1689. To the right the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 309 

ruin Nollingen, of the eleventh century, looking 
down over its "Devil's Ladder ;" a steep incline 
of sharp-notched, rocky up-thrusts apparently 
insurmountable, yet over which a daring and im- 
petuous knight of an ancient day is said to 
have forced his "noble steed" to gain his "beau- 
teous bride." Whether she too was brave and 
dared to ride down with him again, "deponent," 
alas, "sayeth not." Opposite rises a huge, 
round tower, almost all that is left of Castle 
Furstenburg, taken by Lewis the Bavarian in 
1321, and finally demolished in 1609. 

The line of elevation descends for a space to 
a lower height. Here in a narrow area, crowd- 
ing against the overhanging declivities, is the 
quaint town of Bacharach, whose well-preserved 
city-walls connect with the ruined Castle Stah- 
lick on the rocks above. 

On the other side of the river, the town of 
Kaub, with considerable remains of ancient for- 
tifications ; this spot has a more modern interest 
as the place through which Blucher passed on 
New Year's eve, 1813-14. Above here, old 
Castle Gutenfels, destroyed by Napoleon in 1805. 
In the center of the stream at this point, is an- 
other huge rock upon which stands the Pfalz, a 
vaster and more imposing, but not so romantic 
a structure as the "Mouse-Tower," reared for 
the same purpose, the levying of toll in the days 
of mediaeval oppression. 

I cannot name all these mighty castles and 
majestic ruins, but which shall I ignore? Not 
beautiful Schoenberg with its three ivy-mantled 
towers rising so picturesquely on yonder wooded 
height; nor the "ancient, free and imperial 
town," Oberwahl, with its antique defenses; ; 
nor yet Ochsenthurm stately in mediaeval ma- 
sonry. 



310 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

O, fair and thrilling picture ! O, crumbling^ 
castles and ruins g'aj, and frowning crag and 
rolling river ! Higher and closer rise the moun- 
tains. Deeper and narrower grows the stream 
and the near rocks cast shadows. The flowing 
waters roll on and sweep around an eminence 
huge and high, far above the river. Steep and 
ragged is its front, and cruel the reefs that show 
their jagged teeth beneath the cr^ystal waves; 
but aloft the sunlight glitters and the grass 
growls green in dappled dells. Do you hear the 
Loerlei singing? 

A maiden of lovel'est seeming 
Afar on those heights so fair, 

With golden ornaments gleaming, 
Is combing her golden hair. 

Sha'l she lure us on till the grinning rocks 
shall dash us to our doom? Oh! Heine, how 
your measures weird and thrilling, and how the 
"witchery of the Rhine-land," do "work like 
madness in the brain." Rouse up, O, Sense; 
put away the glamour of song and music and leg- 
endary lore ; look out with vision unclouded and 
say what, in verity, you now behold. A narrow 
turn in a beautiful stream and a lofty bluff, 'tis 
true; but modern science has widened the chan- 
nel and the bluff is not more than five hundred 
feet in height; not so high as the Sooneck some 
distance back. And have you not also looked 
upon the ice-topped Alps of Switzerland and 
the white ruggedness of the Rocky Moutains 
that thrust themselves against high heaven? 

But should one then bring out one's meas- 
uring-line and say: "This height is so many 
feet lower than that ; this rock is but one-third 
as vast as another; I have seen wider streams 
and summer skies?" 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 311 

Not so: let us rather yield again to the spell 
of ancient days, of tradition and of poesy, and 
float on enchanted, in a haze of dreamy delight. 
So we turn again to the lovely scene. 

Yonder is St. Goar where dwelt the venerable 
hermit thirteen hundred years ago. Farther on, 
perched on a prominent height, the ruins of the 
so-called "Cat," a fortress of the Katzenelbogen 
(cat's elbow !) family and torn down in 1806; 
and just below, another crumbling pile said to 
to be in a military sense, (which I do not com- 
prehend,) "at the mercy of the cat," therefore 
with fit though rather grim humor, called "The 
Mouse." 

How closely crowd the castellated ruins along 
each bank. Yonder appear two bulky eleva- 
tions looking out from their height, upon the 
winding river that curves gracefully here around 
the base of the mountain. Each is crowned with 
a fortress that long rose up impregnable, and is 
divided from the other only by a deep, narrow 
chasm called "The battle ditch." 

Here, ages ago, tradition tells, there dwelt two 
brothers in these two castles on these twin moun- 
tains, in splendor of pomp and power,each with 
his numerous retinue. But in the course of 
time, instead of inclining to 

"Each his friendly aid afford, 
And feel his brother's care," 

they sought only war and strife, and so fought 
unceasingly across the narrow ravine, whose 
depths have hidden many a ghastly victim and 
echoed many a dying groan. But their warfare 
is accomplished; centuries since, the last armed 
watchman left these battlements, the last mailed 
warrior abandoned these ramparts; the mighty 
walls are weakened ; chaotic fragments fill the 



312 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

spacious inclosures and modern warfare laughs 
their defenses to scorn. But still the old bul- 
warks stand gazing off over this great theater 
of time's infinite changes, and still the smiling 
Rhine rolls on. 

With a wide sweep the river turns eastward 
and then again as far west. Fair Bornhofen 
lies near with its cloister to which, even in this 
prosaic age, flock crowds of pilgrims every year, 
to pray before the hallowed shrine where sits 
enthroned a Holy Mary of wondrous, miracle- 
working grace. Soon bold Marxburg lifts into 
view, the only castle on the Rhine that has never 
been destroyed, though dating beyond 1100. 

But now a most unique edifice appears on the 
left, at some distance from the shore, for here 
again the hills have receded somewhat and are 
less precipitous. This, like the other antique 
structures, is of heavy masonry, but is low and 
broad and seems little but a massive, flat roof 
resting upon many open arches. A flight of 
steps about half the height of the building,leads 
to a rather stately portal rising perhaps five or 
six feet above the main front. 

A kindly neighbor here informs me that 
this is ''The King's chair;" is eighteen feet 
high within and has eight stone seats, one for 
the emperor, seven for the electors. Here the 
emperors were elected down to the fifteenth cen- 
tury,and in 1330 it was decided that "the pope's 
approval was not necessary to confirm a choice." 
All this is truly quaint and old-timey. 

Across on the right, just before the river Lahn 
empties into the Rhine, stands the very ancient 
town of Oberlahnstein ; and above on yon steep 
rock. Castle Lahneck, once the property of the 
Knights-Templars, and the scene of many an he- 
roic conflict and defiant death in the centuries 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 313 

agone. It was finally dismantled by the French 
in 1688, but is now private propert}'-, having 
been restored in 1860. 

Now haughty Stolzenfels, constructed in the 
thirteenth century rears up its great, pentagonal 
tower on the left, nearly five hundred feet above 
the Ehine. It is a stately stronghold, splen- 
didly restored, and contains, we are told, every 
elegance and many rich collections. How won- 
derful must be the view from ofi" its pinnacles, 
down over verdant groves to fair Capellan at its 
feet, and off eastward where the tortuous Lahn 
reaches away toward Ems. 

More marvelous still the changes it has wit- 
nessed in the status of mankind, both subjec- 
tively and objectively, through all this wide 
expanse, aye, through all the world abroad ; 
while northward ever the rippling Rhine runs on. 

Some distance along to the left, we see the 
suburban villas of a populous city and soon 
beautiful Coblenz spreads out into view, magni- 
ficently situated at the junction of the Moselle 
with the Rhine. Three fine bridges, the first 
since we left Biebrich, cross the main riverbe- 
tween here and Stolzenfels. In the Moselle in 
1864, were found the remains of a Roman 
bridge; to-day a handsome solid structure of 
,stone leads across this river just above its mouth. 
We note the quaint old Castor Church which, 
with its Gothic towers, has stood here for more 
than a thousand years. 

A strong fort with garrison of fifty one hun- 
dred soldiers, commands the city and all the im- 
mediate vicinity ; while opposite the mouth of 
the Moselle, the great fortress Ehrenbreitstein, 
inaccessible on three sides, frowns down from 
its height of over three hundred feet. Never 
,but twice in all the centuries of its existence. 



3U ONE AVOMAN WANDEEING 

has this fortress succumbed, and both times only 
through hunger. What tragedies of resistance 
and endurance that brief phrase implies. What 
scenes of agony and horror have been enacted 
within and before these invincible barriers 
which to-day look so tranquilly down upon 
the fertile plains stretching otf so far below ; 
for here lies the lovely Ehrenbreitstein valley, 
whereof it truly seems that its "ways are ways 
of pleasantness and all" its "paths are peace," 

In this fair district Goethe abode in 1774, 
with Basedow and Lavater; and still as then 
and in ages past, the restless Rhine sweeps on. 

Two large and leafy islands almost intercept 
us at this point, but we carefully feel our way 
along in the channel, and our gaze, so long re- 
stricted by lofty cliff and peak, now roves freely 
over arable field and grassy meadow, while anew 
the clustering villages crowd close to the water's 
edge. But yet a little farther, and once more 
arise the heights crowned as before with castle 
and watch-tower, rampart and ruin. 

O, wondrous Rhine! What pen shall fitly 
trare the glorious history of its borders? Here 
is Engers, where Ctesar is sa d to have crossed 
the river. There are the ruins of Sayn, one of 
the most ancient strongholds upon the Rhine; 
and Andernach, with its walls of Roman origin 
and beautiful remains of tower and rampart, 
that resisted even the gunpowder of the French 
in 1688. 

On yonder high and craggy rock, are the ex- 
tensive ruins of Hammerstein, once strongly 
fortified and one of the places of refuge for the 
sorely beset Henry IV., but finally demolished 
in 1660 by that warlike prelate, the Bishop of 
Cologne. Over on the left, above its verdure- 
crtsted hill, rises Burg Rheineck, rebuilt in 1832 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 315 

upon the ruins of the old fortress that, dating 
from the eleventh century, had again and again 
been leveled and re-reared by opposing hosts. 
On the other side again, stately New Ahrenfels, 
erected above the ruins of an ancient robber- 
castle, looms up proudly in all the bravery oi Jin 
de siecle fagade and tower. 

Thus on and on we glide adown the broaden- 
ing stream. Citadel, castle, cloister and con- 
vent, ancient and modern, ruined and restored, 
ever rising before and sinking behind us. Each 
has its own thrilling record, each its baptism of 
fire and blood, from away back into the shad- 
ows of antiquity. How impossible to realize 
the conditions through which primitive man has 
struggled up into the comparative peace and 
civilization of the present; yet through all, na- 
ture smiles serenely and still with ceaseless flow 
the limpid Rhine moves on. 

The pleasant and popular village Remagen, — 
the Roman Rigomagus, — now comes into view 
to the left in the valley of the Ahr. At a little dis- 
tance beyond, in abrupt contrast to stern castles 
and ancient ruins, appears a beautiful modern 
church of Gothic architecture, built in 1859 
upon a slate rock, and dedicated to St. ApoUo- 
naris. Tiiis is another celebrated resort for pil- 
grims ; the head of the saint is preserved within 
and works, so say the faithful, many miracles. 

A little further on, a rounded arch of quaint 
design, all that is left of some antique edifice, 
stands out conspicuously on the left, three hun- 
dred and forty-four feet above the river. Tra- 
dition calls this "Roland's Areli," though who 
Roland was, save that he may have been one of 
Charlemagne's paladins, and why he had an 
arch, there are few to-day who know and still 
fewer who cjre. The view from this ruin is 



316 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

considered the most incomparably beautiful of 
the whole Rhine. 

But what is this that towers aloft so high 
across our very path and seems to loom in gran- 
deur up to the steps of heaven itself? 'Tis thy 
grim steeps, Oh ! Drachenfels, and, set thereon, 
the remnants of that mighty pile which ancient 
dragon and medieval engine could scarce over- 
throw. And now, Just below that rviined mag- 
nificence, there rises, grand and massive, a new 
Drachenburg, in haughty defiance to modern 
energies. What now the monster housing here 
within thy secret caverns, and where the 
"horny Siegfried" that shall fi?e to lay the 
ravener low? Impassive in its solid majesty it 
rears itself above, while far below we round its 
base and seek the current that shall bear us on. 

There on the right, volcanic Siebengebirge, 
and yonder to the left, the ancient fortifications 
of Godesberg, rent and dismantled, lift up their 
peaks and pinnacles. And now the hills fall 
back once more; the railways veer farther in- 
land and across the country we see wide, 
straight highways stretching from point to 
point, lined by beautiful trees. We are ap- 
proaching Bonn, well known to all the world. 
It was a flourishing town in the days of Con- 
stantine the Great, and so it is to-day. Oppo- 
site the city, the river Sieg with many islands, 
flows into the Rhine from the east, and an ex- 
tensive forest stretches along its banks. 

The Rhine still broadens and now makes 
another sweep to the east and then winds again to 
the north. The shores on either side are here flat 
and little varied, but studded thickly with thriv- 
ing villages and lovely farm districts. Fair and 
unobstructed lies the level prospect to the clear 
horizon. We seem to have emerged from the 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 317 

dread domain of "grim-visaged War," into the 
smiling plains of Peace ; from the narrow con- 
fines of mediaeval environment again into the 
complex and diversified atmosphere of modern 
existence with range illimitable. 

Suburban villas and pleasure-gardens begin 
to appear ; soon long lines of streets and ave- 
nues with compact rows of massive buildings 
and a sea of roofs pierced by spire and cupola ; 
above all of which, in sublime dignity, rises the 
ineffable beauty of the great cathedral. 

Making our way to the docks and stopping 
just above the two bridges, one a pontoon, w^e 
disembark at Cologne and our voyage is over. 
Yet ever welling from its snowy source in the 
distant Swiss-Alps, and hurrying along to its 
destination in the far North Sea, the beautiful 
Rhine flows on. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The brief glimpses one may obtain in a con- 
tinuous journey from the German frontier across 
Holland to a near seaport, are not sufficient to 
afford any great knowledge or wide comprehen- 
sion of this country and its people. Still one 
may lay up a store of pleasing recollections even 
in this short transit, as 3 find after bidding fare- 
well one morning to the lovely and interesting 
country of Germany, taking train again at 
Cologne and speeding away over level areas 
growing continually lower and more watery as 
we approach Holland. It rains gently and the 
whole outlook is indeed aqueous and monotonous. 

But the little stations at which we pause are 
so trim, the more considerable towns so 
thriving, and everywhere the people are so 
kindly and cordial, that one is loth to leave them 
behind. They all smile and ejaculate '•'■Guten 
Tag'''' or '■'■Glueckliche Reise,''^ if they chance to 
catch one's eye. On this journey I note again 
the foreign rendering of the "news and gum 
fiends" of our own land. At each station news- 
dealers pass along outside the train, — the doors 
of which open out on and are at an exact level 
with the station platforms, — and carry or push 
before them light racks on which are displayed 
a small assortment of newspapers, rarely any 
other reading matter. Refreshment venders 
have neat little tables, often with canopy to 
shield from sun and rain, and resting on trucks 
that are easily wheeled along. These tables aie 
tastefully set out with fruit, little cakes, various 

818 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 319 

sausages, beer, wine and so forth, and are often 
adorned with flowers. One rarely meets a sand- 
wich on the continent. Everything about the 
tables, cutlery, glass and the like, is spotless and 
shining. Passengers looking out, can readily 
make their wants known and be served by the 
white-aproned, white-capped attendant, either 
through the wide-open door, or the lowered 
glass upper-half ; but if not desiring anything, 
are not annoyed in any way by solicitations, or 
by having diverse wares dumped upon their 
knees by the passing peddler. Sometimes a 
youth or maid runs along with either a pitcher 
of hot cafe-au-lait or bouillon which are very 
refreshing and cost about two cents a cup. 

By and by we cross the frontier ; a civil-ap- 
pearing officer looks into our compartment and 
takes our word for it that we have nothing duti- 
able in our bags. A little placard in English in- 
forms us that the Custom-House officers may al- 
low the passengers to"Keep"-with a capital K,- 
"their pi ices if the latter should prove to have 
any difficulty in descending." This is kind and 
humane, surely, and though I, personally, do not 
"prove to have any difficulty in descending," I 
still do not leave my place, as my heavy luggage 
has all gone on ahead. So we roll onward into 
the domain of the Dutch. 

How flat it all is; not an elevation to be 
noted in all one's range of vision. I have never 
seen anything just like it. I have been on the 
great plains of Iowa and Kansas, but there, 
there was no water in the landscape ; the one 
was all a great expanse of waving corn, the 
other, — it then being early winter, — a boundless 
area of gray, wind-swept waste. I have also 
seen the marshy lowlands of southern Alabama 
and Louisiana, where there was no lack of water, 



320 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

but there the effect was of being in a great hol- 
low below the surrounding surface; in a sort 
of huge bowl as it were, of which the sea-wall 
of the gulf in one direction, and the higher, 
solid ground of the remaining circumference, con- 
stituted the rim, so to speak. But here to-day, 
it seems as if we were running along on a mere 
crust, cut in all directions by the canals, and 
liable at any moment to give way and plunge us 
into the bottomless deep. How strange to think 
we are actually beholding the "dykes and 
ditches" of which we have heard from our 
veriest childhood. This reclaimed land, it is- 
said, is remarkably fertile. Vegetation looks 
extremel}'' flourishing, and graceful trees with 
feathery foliage are especially noticeable. 

Strange, outlandish names begin to appear on 
the signs and placards that meet one's eyes, 
while funny little villages and quaint rural 
scenes come into view, all on a dead level, with 
nothing more striking in the way of elevation, 
than the huge wind-mills that slowly move their 
heavy pinions. Queer, little, square-built boys 
and girls, with thick, stiff garments, odd head- 
coverings and wooden shoes, occasionally look 
up at us from the highways, and we get glimpses 
of short,thick-set men and women at work about 
their hay-ricks and low cots, behind screens of 
luxuriant, but mainly dwarfed greenery. But 
the chief characteristic of the scene, is water, 
water ; not in winding rivers or picturesque 
lakes, but in the straight, seemingly endless 
canals that stretch off monotonously in all di- 
rections. 

I am not sorry when we come to our destina- 
tion, the little town of Vlissingen, where I step 
out wondering, among the Dutch folk. 

For the first time in mv wanderings, I find 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 321 

myself unable to speak, after a fashion, the 
language of the country; but alas, I "have no 
Dutch," so fall back on English. The first offi- 
cial I accost does not speak this tongue, but evi- 
dently recognizes the sound, as he disappears 
and returns with some one who does speak it. 

I mention my desire for a cab; am told there 
are none there at present but that I can "take a 
boat," or can hire a guide and walk. Finding 
the distance short, I elect to do the latter, and. 
my guide, who I find speaks German, slings my 
bag over his shoulder and off we start. 

The rain has ceased and the sun shines warmly. 
The flat, green fields stretch off to the right, the 
level, glittering sea to the left, for here we are, 
eight hours straight and steady sailing, from 
the English coast, and no land is visible upon 
the horizon. The main city lies beyond the 
railway station and past these meadows. 

We strike into a wide, paved path stretching, 
like the canals, straight onward, and fringed at 
intervals by small shade trees, under which are 
occasional seats, whereon here and there sit 
ladies reading. A wagon-road lies on one side 
of the path, a canal on the other. We see a 
casual cow off in the fields and we meet one or 
two phlegmatic-looking pedestrians, but a spell 
of silence seems to lie upon panorama and peo- 
ple. My guide seems to be infected by it, for 
he vouchsafes only a "t/a, gnaedige Frau^'''' or 
'■'■JSTein, gnaedige Frau,^ '' to mj attempts to ex- 
tract information, so finally I too yield to the 
taciturn spirit and we walk mutely on. 

Reaching my hotel, my man recovers enough 
of speech to voice a desire for sixty cents. I 
mention to my hostess, who speaks English, my 
surprise that he should be familiar with United 
States money ; whereupon she explains that 



322 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

"cents" is also Dutch money, though one cent 
Dutch is worth only two-fifths of one cent 
United States, so I disburse German coin to the 
required amount , which the lady exchanges 
for the current coin of the kingdom, and my 
guide meanders slowly and silently away. 

And now begins anew a struggle with a for- 
eign currency this time oi florins, gulden and cents, 
but thanks to the decimal system so prevalent on 
the continent, one soon acquires the new names 
and proceeds as before. 

My hostess I regret to learn, is French instead 
of Dutch, and so not typical, either in manner 
or habitation, of this odd people. 

She leads me through a roomy hall, up a spa- 
cious staircase, into a remarkably cheerful room, 
large, well-equipped, with a broad, double glass- 
door in the middle of the front, overlooking 
another canal immediately before the house, 
separated from it only by a wide, paved road. 
More canals reach hither and thither everywhere, 
with intensely green banks and bearing all sorts 
of queer-shaped boats ; and still farther beyond 
the canals, the sparkling, open water of the 
great harbor. 

Retiring to an inviting couch, the first double 
bed that I have seen except in museums, since I 
left home, I soon succumb to the assaults of the 
"sandman" and drift into dreamland. 

Vlissingen is a flourishing town of some seven- 
teen thousand inhabitants, a well-known port 
and bathing resort. 

My i3lace I find is somewhat in the suburbs, 
but "trams" and boats are near at hand so I 
soon start out "to see what I can see." 

At one extremity of the town a fine promenade 
called the "North Sea Boulevard," one and one 
quarter miles long, commands a boundless sex- 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 323 

view over the broad sands white as snow. Here 
is situated the "Grand Hotel of Baths, "crowded 
with resorters. The long line of bathing-ma- 
chines on wheels, drawn up out of the tide after 
bathing hours and resembling nothing so much 
as a row of United States "prairie schooners," 
looks rather odd, as if the pox^ulation was about to 
emigrate overland. Back of the wide stretch of 
snowy sand, is the high dyke or levee, along the 
the broad top of which I walk, gazing off first 
on one side over the silver sea, then off on the 
other across the flat, flat landscape and the quaint 
little city spread out in rows along the verdant 
banks of the intersecting canals. 

Everything in the far distance inland, seems to 
dip down into the sea, so monotonously does the 
unvarying flatness of the level land, meet the 
misty horizon. Compact, ancient, trim little 
houses, closely set together, line the narrow 
streets that follow the banks and quays along 
the "ditches," while masts and ship-riggings 
appear in surprising contiguity to roofs and 
chimneys. 

Descending from the sea-wall, I find my way 
along cityward in the lower areas, crossing in- 
numerable bridges, passing motley groups of 
peasants, and sailors of apparently all nations, 
and meeting many a wholesome-looking Dutch 
serving- maid, in her work-a-day costume of neat, 
close, white cap and tidy, short-sleeved, ankle- 
lengthed, blue linen gown ; bearing on her 
shoulders a peculiar wooden yoke, from which 
depend long hooks which help sustain the two 
pails of water she seemes to be always carrying. 
Another novel spectacle to the foreigner, is the 
little dog-team often met with, trotting along the 
quays. Sometimes there are as many as six or 
eight dogs to one cart; they usually travel on 



324 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

very harmoniously and obediently, but occasion- 
ally a diversion arises. It was my fortune to 
witness a decided diiference in opinion between 
some of these sturdy and efficient servants, as I 
strolled along. 

On the opposite side of the quay a team of 
six canines was dogfully doing its duty, hauling 
a large cart of milk-cans and attending strictly 
to business, while the driver, a dumpy little old 
woman in wooden shoes and a singular cap, 
walked calmly at the side. In front of a large 
edifice with high steps, another dog-team had 
paused evidently for rest, and its various mem- 
bers were lying on the pavement lolling their 
tongues while their mistress sat on the steps 
gossiping. 

As the first team drew near, the other dogs 
pricked up their ears, growled derisively, and 
apparently threw insulting remarks at the ap- 
proaching ones. These, before so complacent, 
began to grow restive, to toss their heads and to 
utter low rumbles of remonstrance. Still came 
the jeers and floutings thicker and faster, from 
the more fortunate beasts resting in the cool 
shade, toward their unlucky fellow-creatures 
still sweating in the harness, until mortal dog 
could stand no more and there was a wild rush 
of the industrious team, pell mell, upon their 
recumbent taunters. These sprang to the com- 
bat, and for a few minutes the landscape was 
obscured by a wild storm of flying cans, carts, 
milk, butter and green groceries, mingled with 
tufts of hair, broken straps, madly waving tails 
and glittering teeth, while all sorts of dog-pro- 
fanity and Dutch peasant objurgations, re- 
sounded upon the air, as the excited mistresses 
strove to quell the tumultuous confli(!t. 

With a hearty laugh, I left them to their fate 
and went on my way. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

There is little pretense of artistic effect, arch- 
itectural or otherwise about the streets of Vlis- 
singen, though there is an ancient church or two, 
an interesting museum of antiquities, and along 
the Quay Bellamy are some fine buildings rising 
behind the tree-shaded promenade on either side ; 
and a few modest specimens of memorial art 
meet one unexpectedly, as a barrier of but a few 
feet high completely obstructs one's outlook, 
such an absence is there within the city of 
any vantage-ground from which to overlook the 
scene. I feel a strange sort of helplessness as I 
walk along, caused I suppose, by my ignorance 
of the language and by the before mentioned 
sensation that I cannot conquer, of the instabil- 
ity of what should be solid earth, but what may 
be, and but for the Hollanders' indefatigable 
exertions would be, a rolling waste of wide 
waters. 

Thus I go meditatively on, making devious 
turns as fancy beckons, when I am suddenly 
brought to a standstill against a blank wall. I 
look about finding no egress except behind me, 
and seeing nobody of whom to inquire, except 
two or three stolid individuals in appearance 
hopelessly Dutch. I naturally retrace my steps 
a few paces, but where to go? Across this canal 
or along that one? On which side is the sea, 
for it is not visible at this "depth" wherein. I 
stand? Where is the sun,? Ah, its vanishing 
rays are gleaming yonder, that must be seaward; 
so I proceed in the opposite direction, wonder- 

325 



326 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

ing who of these foreign-looking beings can 
understand the speech of the alien wanderer, I 
accost one; alas, "no English, no French, no Ger- 
man;" I pass on; by and by I try again, same 
result. Still going, I cross abridge that seems 
familiar; lam encouraged; but which way to 
turn? Now 1 see approaching a man in naval 
uniform, the style of his "get-up'' showing him 
to be an officer. Owing to the daily plying of 
steamers between Holland and England, I feel 
sure that a naval officer must know English, so 
I again make inquiries. My surmise proves 
correct and 1 am politely informed to my aston- 
ishment that I am almost at the very door of 
my hotel, it being only around the next corner 
and along the next canal, though invisible from 
our point of view. So I am again housed in 
safety. 

As the sun pours into my chamber next morn- 
ing, I am dazzled by the glorious radiance of his 
beams reflected from the shining waters stretch- 
ing off from almost directly beneath my window. 
Rising to shut out the too great brilliance, I 
hear a sort of high, attenuated melody that ex- 
cites my curiosity ; so 1 look forth and behold a 
detachment of Dutch soldiers keeping step to 
the odd music and marching sedately past wear- 
ing tall, quaint caps and grave uniforms of 
somber blue. They do not look as if they were 
much exhilarated by any prospective "pomp and 
circumstance of war;" and no wonder, poor fel- 
lows; for what an unceasing conflict have they, 
the Hollanders, had with nature and with man, 
to preserve their identity as a country and as a 
nation. At this time great preparations are 
making for the coming coronation of their young 
queen, who attains her majority the next year. 
Among other things is a great, glittering, golden 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 327 

coach, in which she is to ride on that important 
day. All of these proposed details come to pass 
later, in successful splendor, as h^r 3routhful 
majesty assumes the reins of her kingdom, 

] go out afterward into the radiant atmos- 
phere which yet has no corresponding warmth 
in it, and take train for Middlt-bourg, having 
previously been "coached" by my hostess as to 
price of ticket and so forth. So I hold out my 
exact fare to the conductor, but to my dismay 
he asks me something in Dutch ; I do not under- 
stand, of course, and inquire successively, "Do 
you speak Englif^h?" '•'•Sprechen Sie DeuUchV 
and '■'■ Parlez-vous FranmisV but receive in an- 
swer only a smiling and apologetic shake of the 
head. Here a kindly Dutch lady across the aisle 
notes our perplexity and comes to the rescue in 
English. She discovers that the conductor 
wishes to know if I would like a return ticket 
which is somewhat cheaper. I take advantage 
of the opportunity and this being settled, 
thanks to the courteous Dutchwoman, I turn 
my attention to the watery, windmilly view. 

Much of the time we run along between con- 
tinuous green lanee that, hedged in, shut off any 
outlook. On the other side, I suppose, are 
more "ditches." 

Arriving at Middlebourg, I find a provincial 
fair or "kermess" in progress, which is interest- 
ing beyond telling. This takes place annually 
I learn, at this season and continues ten days. 
To this on certain days of the week, repair the 
peasants and "peasantesses" in full regalia of 
their national costumes, which are picturesque- 
in the extreme. They are very diverse, though 
I am told each province has its distinctive style 
that is handed down, cut, colors and texture^ 
from generation to generation. 



328 ONE WOMAN WANDERING 

The women are much handsomer than the 
men, having beautiful, clear, white complexions 
and noble, intelligent faces. They all wear the 
close, white coif, which reveals a little of the 
hair on the forehead but comes down snugly 
about the ears. A few have frills falling over 
the neck or standing away from the face. Each 
is adorned by strange, metal ornaments, whether 
brass or gold I did not ascertain, which are fas- 
tened apparently into the very head itself, at 
the temples, close to the eyes, over which the 
ornaments dangle or wav^, according to their 
configuration. Some are like flags, others spir- 
als and still others like beads. So far as I 
observed, the arms were invariably bare and the 
skirts in no case hid the feet. The colors of the 
costumes are very modest and tasteful, usually 
a dark rich brown, plum or wine colored main 
garment, with delicate blue, lavender or green 
accessories and with vests or chemisettes of 
heavily-wrought, snowy lawn or cambric. They 
wear numerous adornments in the line of neck- 
laces, brooches and chains, and the fingers of 
many are loaded with rings. It looks particu- 
larly odd to see tiny tots of four and five years, 
tricked out in these antique and elaborate cos- 
tumes. 

The men's garb is not so picturesque. Dark, 
short jackets, knee-breeches, long hose, low buck 
led shoes and close-fitting head gear, a sort of 
compromise between hat and cap, are the chief 
features of every costume, with little attempt at 
decoration. 

Middlebourg is the capital of Zealand and, 
according to statistics, has nearly nineteen 
thousand inhabitants. Some of its promenades 
are beautiful, though of course, all on a dead 
level, and its architecture is nobly quaint and 
remarkable. 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 329 

The City Hall, situated in the center of the 
town, is a magnificent and uniquely imposing 
structure, built by Charles the Bold in 1468. 
More remote from the busier parts of the city, 
is an ancient abbey, dating from the twelfth 
century. To reach this, one follows an angling, 
narrow way seeming scarcely wide enough for 
two carts to pass each other, but surprisingly 
clean, with queer little houses standing close to 
the pavement; so close indeed that the passer-by 
may get glimpses of occasional exquisite inter- 
iors, some of the rooms being paved and lined 
up the sides to various heights, with lovely blue 
and white tiles, while copper, brass and pewter 
gleam out of unexpected corners, all burnished 
to a painful degree, and the shining windows 
are gay with colored blooms. 

This street leads into a sort of wide orna- 
mental area still inclosed by the little houses, 
but across which, filling in the opposite side, is 
a queer, old Dutch manor-house of 1590, wonder- 
fully and astonishingly ornate. Off at the right, 
an arch through the solid mason-work of the 
encircling houses, leads into an extensive court 
paved with brick. Here too an unbroken wall 
of buildings, but of a heavier, loftier order, sur- 
rounds the place, and is so high that a nearly 
perpetual twilight pervades the scene. A 
ponderous erection in the center is designed, I 
presume, for a decorative fountain, though no 
water is visible. The great tower of the abbey 
looms up at one hand. Perfect silence reigns. 
It is the very abode of peace, or is it death? 
^ot a footfall echoes but my own as I cross the 
court and pass through a corresponding arch in 
the opposite wall, coming out on the other side 
of the abbey, which looks grim and forbidding. 
I do not enter, but go on down a pleasant street 



330 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 



and soon find myself on the way to the station^ 
along an avenue of some pretentions and impor 
tance, architecturally and commercially, and 
shaded by handsome trees. 

The quaint wares of the Dutch country are 
set forth attractively in great profusion, and the 
quainter people throng the thoro^ighfares, pass- 
ing placidly along. I am unable to resist the 
novel displays at every hand and finally pause 
at an entrancing window to wonder and to ad- 
mire. The proprietor comes out to welcome me 
and proves to be a very attractive young man of 
fair skin and large, candid, blue eyes. He 
speaks English perfectly and is most cordial and 
polite to the foreigner, giving much courteous 
and acceptable information. I indulge in a few 
modest purchases and learn that his name is 
"Mynheer F. B. Den Boer," which truly is deli- 
ciously "Dutchy." 

Then I go on to the station and soon find my- 
self once more in Vlissingen. 

Unfortunately I can not tarry in this singu- 
larly interesting country, so, London being the- 
next stage of my journey, I inquire next day as 
to means of transportation to the docks. Again 
I am told to my amusement that I can "take a 
boat," this seeming to be as matter of course a 
proceeding here, as elsewhere to take a "tram." 
However, I start out piloted by a friendly Ger- 
man porter; crossing the -road, we go a few 
steps along the canal and lo, here is the point of 
embarkation. 

A bustling little steam-launch pufi^s up and, 
for the almost infinitessimal sum of ten cents 
Dutch, or four cents United States, the porter, 
my bags and myself are conveyed over the 
smooth, dark waters of the canal, to the other 
side of the town, where is the slip of the "Zea- 
land Steamship Company." 



ONE WOMAN WANDEEING 33 1 

Though I found transportation rates so ex- 
ceedingly small, my expenses otherwise in Hol- 
land did not show that prices here are particu- 
larly low, and I am told that living in this 
country is really very expensive, very much 
more so than in France or Germany. 

But now I must bid it all good-bye, so turning 
my back upon the low-lying shores, I board the 
waiting vessel and soon we steam out of the har- 
bor, with the prow of the good ship "Duitsch- 
land" set forward toward the "white cliffs of 
Albion." 



CHAPTER XXXVIT. 

My lone sister, we have journeyed long in 
spirit together. The record is lengthy, yet the 
half is not told. Far enough away, indeed, am 
I still from my "ain countree," and 

"Many a day 
Must roll away"" 

ere again I set foot upon my native shores. 

How I returned across the tossing channel, on 
to rare old England with its lovely lakes and 
scented hedge-rows : how I wandered thence into 
stern Scotland, through its tangled glens, its 
heathery slopes, its mountain and its moors, past 
Stirling bold, up to ' 'Edinboro' Town;" thence 
across to gray Glasgow and out once more upon 
the mighty main, is yet unuttered and un- 
written. 

I would not exhaust your interest nor hold 
you till your eye be strained and your ear 
weary. Shall we here wave adieus and drift 
apart as 

"Fair laughs the morn and soft the zephyr blows; 
While proudly riding o'er the azure realm, 
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes?" 

As for the rest, shall it be written hereafter? 
Who can tell.'' 

Take up the tale for yourself, dear sister, and 
bring it to your own conclusion ; thus will you 
be more fully edified and entertained; thus will 
you lay up for yourself stores of refreshing rec- 
ollections for that season when you sit solitary, 

332 



ONE WOMAN WANDERING 333 

'Between the dark and the daylight, 
When the night is beginning to lower." 

Thus may you prosper; and in whatever jour- 
ney you may undertake, above all in the wide, 
devious and but once traveled journey of life, 
both now and forever may God be with you. 



FINIS . 



**** The author would explain that wherever quotations 
from foreign poems, placards, inscriptions and so forth, have 
been given with quotation marks, the translation so used is the 
author's own.**** 



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